In Madrid, the charter school beat the public school. Of the 540,332 students enrolled in the capital, 215,133 study in subsidized private centers, while 214,711 attend public education every day. These figures, although very close to each other, show the trend towards a concerted educational model established in the municipality since the existence of differentiated data, more than two decades ago.
This is a preference that has prevailed in the city since 2002, when the sum of the demand for concerted and private education far exceeds that of public education. The private sector has experienced ups and downs in its enrollment since records began, although in the last updated academic year (2023-24) it reached a record number of students: 20.4% of the total number of students are enrolled in private centers without a concert.
39.83% of students studying in the municipality are enrolled in concerted education, a model that receives public funding but also charges students. In 100% of these centers (private schools with concerts), families are charged the basic rate, despite the fact that Lomloe prohibits making it compulsory in primary and secondary schools.
Not all centers charge the same. One of the factors that influence the amount of fees paid by families is the legal form of the subsidized centers. While those that are incorporated have higher fees on average, those that rely on foundations have lower fees. At the top of the highest payouts are trade schools.
The Popular Party of Madrid has made concerted education the central core of its educational policy for more than 20 years, when it obtained educational powers. This trend has worsened since the victory of Esperanza Aguirre in the 2003 elections and materializes in issues such as the transfer of public land at a very low cost to build centers, which already have the concert guaranteed before being born. This practice (granting the agreement before its construction) was illegal until 2013, when José Ignacio Wert, former minister of the PP, regularized it in his Lomce to validate the community model, and it was prohibited again in Lomloe, although in an ambiguous way, which de facto failed to stop land transfers in the region.
This model brings families together natural. Nuria is a mother of two children and lives in Carabanchel. Her youngest daughter is 16 and attends a local charter school: “Most of the schools I have around my house are charter schools, and I took the easy way out; being a former student, I knew I had a good chance that my children would be able to get in,” she explains.
Centers and neighborhoods
Madrid has 1,383 General Regime educational centers in which 540,332 students are enrolled, spread across the 21 neighborhoods of the municipality. The distribution of students between the three existing models – public, subsidized and private – is unequal and does not meet, in all cases, the socio-economic criteria of the neighborhoods in which they live.
Among the eight Madrid neighborhoods which have more students enrolled in concerted education than in public education (Retiro, Salamanca, Chamartín, Tetuán, Chamberí, La Latina, Carabanchel and Ciudad Lineal), half (Tetuán, La Latina, Carabanchel and Ciudad Lineal) have an average gross annual household income lower than the average for the municipality (64,574 euros).
Nuria explains that her eldest son studied at the concerted school at all school levels and that now her 16-year-old daughter continues to attend school in the same center: “I don’t think that concerted education is better than public education,” she says. Although she is not a believer, she chose a Catholic school, because the other options in the neighborhood did not convince her: “The public that I have near my home, from the outside, I see that they have fewer facilities, fewer playgrounds and even, in those where I went to vote, I perceived that the classes are less well maintained.
The distribution of centers
Of the 1,383 educational centers, 536 are public, 366 subsidized and 481 private. Concerted education represents 26.5% of the educational offer of the municipality’s centers and is particularly striking because, although it is the educational model with the lowest supply of centers, its demand is greater than that of public and private education.
While Madrid’s public school presents a number of students difficult to find elsewhere in Spain – only 4 out of 10 students study in public schools – the sum of private and subsidized centers represents more than 60% of the offer of educational centers of the general regime, and shows an educational trend towards non-public teaching models in the municipality, which the Community of Madrid promotes at different educational levels.
Avelino has two children who study in a charter school in the Hortaleza neighborhood: “We take our children here because my wife and I study in the same center. » Although he considers that the teachers at the subsidized school are no better than those at the public school, he explains that the environment is “more familiar”, an aspect that families appreciate, he says, when choosing a school for their children.
Flexible hours are another of the factors that influence the choice of center: “It is an advantage that we can pick them up at four in the afternoon,” explains Avelino, who also appreciates the human quality of the school: “It may not be equipped with the best technology, but there is no shortage of staff,” he adds.
The neighborhoods
75% of districts have more public centers than charter centers. However, this figure does not translate into student enrollment, since in more than 70% of districts the sum of subsidized and private centers is greater than that of all public centers, which do not always have the necessary places to meet student demand. While in Chamartín not even 20% of students study in a public center, in Villaverde more than 60% do, as the following graph shows.
Adult education, the only exception
This x-ray of Madrid education of the teachings of the General Regime is complemented by the educational centers of the Special Regime, where students who need specialized support and specific measures for their educational needs study. In the municipality, almost half of the centers that offer this service, 42 out of 90, are private, an offer that makes access to a public place difficult and further exacerbates the trend towards paid education models.
On the other hand, adult education constitutes the exception of the municipality and clashes head-on with the educational trend which prevails in the rest of the models. Up to 28 of the 32 adult education centers are public. In 90% of the centers that offer this service, their students receive completely free education.
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