Original article: Talca: Denuncian que municipio despedirá a 400 profesores y reducirá horas a otros 200 por «crisis de financiamiento»
Teachers in Talca, located in the Maule Region, are facing a challenging situation as the local municipality announced plans to lay off 400 educators and reduce hours for an additional 200 professionals. This adjustment is part of the Annual Municipal Education Development Plan 2026 (Padem 2026), which is set for a vote by the Municipal Council on November 11.
On Friday, November 7, educators in Talca gathered in the city center to voice their opposition to this proposed budget cut. Teachers are concerned that the initiative from Mayor Juan Carlos Díaz (RN) will result in the closure of 84 classes and an increase in classrooms with over 40 students.
Moreover, layoffs of teachers and contracted assistants are also planned. The reduction of school coexistence teams and the School Integration Program (PIE) is also on the table. According to a report from the local newspaper «El Centro,” these measures jeopardize educational continuity and adversely impact socio-emotional support as well as the quality of learning.
From Santiago, Mario Aguilar, the national president of the Teachers’ Association, warned that this decision directly affects «the quality of education, as it leads to the merging of classes, resulting in an increase to 45 students per classroom; the elimination of workshops and extracurricular activities. In Talca, just like the rest of Chile, we do not have an excess of teachers. What the Municipality of Talca is proposing is outrageous,» the union leader asserted.
«This is a terrible blow; it’s an atomic bomb against the quality of education in the community. We shouldn’t be cutting costs in schools, but rather saving on political operators and phantom contracts for friends of the authorities and mayors who often create made-up positions, not in schools and their staff,» Aguilar added.
In Talca, teachers have criticized Mayor Juan Carlos Díaz’s economic rationale: «In the 2024 Education Public Account, the municipality reported revenues of M$77,797,720 and expenses of M$75,568,579. They achieved a positive balance of M$2,229,141 and a collectible debt of M$402,674,» indicating there should be no need for the announced cut.
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