Warning in Fohnsdorf

Struggle over music school: “There is a threat of a clear cut!”

Discord around the Fohnsdorf music school

(Bild: Nina - stock.adobe.com)

The Fohnsdorf municipal council votes on Thursday on higher fees for the music school. Some of the increases are exorbitant. Teachers, the opposition and partner communities warn of the consequences.

The meeting of the Fohnsdorf municipal council on Thursday evening could be accompanied by some dissenting voices. The supplementary budget is to be voted on. This includes higher fees for the music school, which was recently attended by more than 300 pupils.

While the fees for underage pupils are to rise by a moderate eight percent (this is also the Styria-wide proposal from the state), the increase in municipal fees is quite something: these are to rise by up to 348 percent, in some cases up to 1,500 euros per head! To be paid by the municipalities of St. Peter/Judenburg, Pölstal and Pusterwald, where outsourced music lessons for local children take place.

"We can't afford that"
"This is absolutely successful and we don't want to give it up. But we can't afford the increase in fees," says St. Peter's mayor Franz Sattler. Fohnsdorf's ÖVP deputy mayor Volkart Kienzl warns that a good third of the pupils could drop out.

The music school fees for adults who receive lessons here are to rise from 1100 to 5000 euros! Nobody can afford that anymore.

Vizebürgermeister Volkart Kienzl

Bild: Kienzl/zVg

The music school staff - although employed by the municipality - have spoken out with an open letter: They warn of a "two-tier society with regard to the musical and artistic education of our youth". There would be fewer young people for music clubs, folk music ensembles and singing societies. And there would be a threat of a reduction in the teaching staff and an enormous loss of image for Fohnsdorf.

SPÖ can decide on its own
The SPÖ has an absolute majority in the Fohnsdorf municipal council. Mayor Helmut Tscharre emphasized to the "Steirerkrone" on Tuesday: "I am committed to economic efficiency."