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Mexican mayors demand federal funds for school infrastructure
🇲🇽 Mexico /Energy & Infrastructure

Mexican mayors demand federal funds for school infrastructure

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Mayors from across Mexico visited the Chamber of Deputies to propose a federal fund for basic education infrastructure.
  • The initiative aims to allocate 6% of federal revenue, approximately 320 billion pesos, directly to local governments for school maintenance and improvements.
  • Mayors argue that current funding is insufficient, leaving many schools in poor condition and lacking basic services.

A delegation of mayors from across Mexico converged on the Chamber of Deputies, urging lawmakers to establish a dedicated federal fund for basic education infrastructure. They presented a legislative proposal to create the Fund for Contributions to Educational Infrastructure (FAIE), which would channel resources directly to local governments to address the deficiencies in primary and secondary schools nationwide.

We are tired of having fourth-rate schools; we want first-rate schools, in good condition, with maintenance, and we are also tired of not having sufficient resources to provide maintenance, and people are tired of hearing that there are no resources and excuses upon excuses

— Mauricio TabeThe mayor of Miguel Hidalgo expressed frustration over the poor condition of schools and lack of funding.

The proposal seeks to ensure that children learn in dignified environments with clear rules for resource management, supported by parental involvement. It calls for allocating 6% of the Federal Participable Collection, amounting to an estimated 320 billion pesos, to be distributed among over 200,000 educational institutions based on their student enrollment.

"We are tired of having fourth-rate schools; we want first-rate schools, in good condition, with maintenance, and we are also tired of not having sufficient resources to provide maintenance, and people are tired of hearing that there are no resources and excuses upon excuses," stated Mauricio Tabe, mayor of Miguel Hidalgo, expressing frustration over the current state of educational facilities.

30 percent of schools in Mexico have deficiencies. They lack basic services, water or sanitation, and of course, almost 50 percent of the school population experiences a digital divide

— José Luis OliverosThe mayor of Apaseo el Grande, Guanajuato, described the extent of the problems in Mexican schools.

Mayors highlighted that many schools lack basic services such as water and sanitation, and nearly half suffer from a digital divide. They emphasized that municipal governments are the closest to the people and should be empowered to directly participate in the maintenance of public schools. The initiative seeks to reform articles 3, 115, and 122 of the Constitution to recognize municipalities and mayoralties as authorities capable of directly contributing to school upkeep.

governing is solving, and school requests should not get lost in bureaucracy. If municipalities and mayoralties are the government closest to the people, let us be part of the solution. We want to reform articles 3, 115, and 122 of the Constitution to recognize municipalities and mayoralties as authorities that can participate directly in the maintenance of public schools

— Alessandra Rojo de la VegaThe mayor of Cuauhtémoc argued for greater municipal involvement in school maintenance and reform of constitutional articles.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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