Stibbe represents 222 school boards in successful Council of State proceedings on €250 million outstanding school funding
On 25 March 2026, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State upheld the ruling of the Midden-Nederland District Court, which had previously ruled that the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science must pay 7.12% in outstanding funding from 2022 to primary schools. Stibbe represented the 222 school boards in these proceedings.
Background: change in funding system
The funding shortfall arose in the last five months of 2022, during the transition from a school-year to a calendar-year funding system. Primary schools receive a monthly payment from the Ministry, intended, amongst other things, to fund staff costs. Until July 2022, the required funding was calculated on a school-year basis. In the first five months of the school year (August to December), schools received 7.12% less than they were entitled to – a shortfall that was compensated for by additional funding later in the school year (from January to July).
With effect from 1 January 2023, a new funding system was introduced under the Funding Simplification Act, under which schools are funded on a calendar-year basis. Due to the system change, the State Secretary had to calculate the funding for August to December 2022 (the transition period) separately. The problem: the schools again received insufficient funding during that period, however, unlike under the previous system, there was no usual compensatory top-up of funding in the following months (January to July). This left the schools with a persistent shortfall of 7.12%.
Court and Council of State rule in favour of school boards
On 21 June 2024, the Midden-Nederland District Court ruled entirely in favour of the school boards (link). The Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State confirmed that ruling on 25 March 2026 (link), holding that the provisions of the transition regulation – under which the schools received only 34.55% funding for the period from August to December 2022 – are contrary to education legislation and are therefore non-binding.
What does this mean?
The State Secretary must now amend the transition regulation, issue new decisions for all the school boards concerned and pay the outstanding 7.12% in staff funding to all the school boards concerned. Stibbe is assisting the school boards with the implementation of the ruling.
