The 2027 draft adds €1.2 billion to national education funding but also removes 1,588 teacher posts. The dispute reflects competing methods for adjusting figures for inflation and pensions.
France’s draft 2027 budget for national education has prompted a dispute over whether funding is rising or shrinking in real terms. Education Minister Édouard Geffray cited a €1.2 billion increase, while Manuel Bompard of La France Insoumise (LFI) said the figure was misleading and pointed to spending cuts and fewer teaching posts.
Franceinfo checked the claims against inflation. If the budget, including pension costs, is adjusted using a 2.1% inflation estimate, it falls by about €650 million. The Finance Ministry rejects that calculation and says the comparison should use its 1.8% inflation forecast for 2027 rather than the figure cited by LFI.
The result also depends on whether pension costs are included. The ministry says LFI counts pension contributions as money for pupils. Mathieu Plane, deputy head of analysis and forecasting at the French Observatory of Economic Conditions (OFCE), said the more appropriate comparison is to assess the budget excluding pensions against forecast inflation. Franceinfo calculated a real-terms decline of more than €200 million on that basis, rather than €650 million.
The headline increase of €1.2 billion does not necessarily represent more resources after inflation. Plane said it largely offsets price rises; to keep education spending at a constant share of the economy, the budget would need to grow by about 3%. The draft reduces education’s share of potential gross domestic product.
The proposal also removes 1,588 permanent teaching posts, including 1,250 in public education. The government links the reductions to a projected fall of 180,000 pupils in 2027 and says teacher numbers will not be cut at the same pace as enrolment. It also plans 3,257 additional posts, some for teachers in training who will not yet be independently responsible for classes.