Romanian court rejects teacher pay hike initiative, unions to work with AUR

Romania's Constitutional Court has ruled against a citizen-led initiative aimed at reversing austerity measures in the education system, specifically rejecting proposals to increase hourly pay for teachers and student scholarships. While the court acknowledged the constitutional validity of the initiative's overall process, it deemed the financial aspects beyond the scope of citizen legislation.

The court cited Article 74, paragraph (2) of the Constitution, which stipulates that fiscal-budgetary matters cannot be addressed through citizen legislative initiatives. This decision invalidates provisions concerning increased hourly pay rates and student grants that were part of a proposal supported by over 150,000 validated signatures from teacher unions.

Teacher unions, represented by the Federation of Education Unions "Spiru Haret," had submitted the signatures to the Chamber of Deputies shortly before the parliamentary recess, hoping for urgent legislative action. The initiative sought to address several key issues: reducing class sizes to a maximum of 22 students in primary school and 26 in secondary and high school; reinstating the pre-2025 calculation method for hourly pay; restoring the pre-2025 teaching workload, with a two-hour reduction for teachers with Grade I and over 25 years of experience; offering a tax-free installation bonus equivalent to three base salaries for teachers in disadvantaged areas; ensuring separate organization for eighth-grade classes regardless of student numbers; and providing equal scholarships for didactic license students and maintaining excellence scholarships for Olympiad medalists throughout their university studies.

Despite the court's rejection of the financial components, Simion Hăncescu indicated that education unions would collaborate with the AUR party. Unions maintain that correcting austerity measures in education can no longer be postponed, signaling continued efforts to advocate for their demands through political channels.