At the beginning of the 2026/2027 school year, some Slovak schools ask parents to pay tens of euros for workbooks and other materials. They explain their request by insufficient funding from the state. However, Minister of Education Tomáš Drucker (Hlas-SD) called such statements "misleading parents" and denied that less money was allocated.
What does the Minister of Education say?
Minister of Education Tomáš Drucker claims that the state not only did not reduce but actually increased funding for textbooks. According to him, in 2026 a record amount of 28 million euros was allocated for this. He believes that schools' statements about funding cuts are false. "If someone claims that schools received less, they are twisting the truth. Demanding contributions from parents by referring to less state funding does not correspond to reality and is misleading parents," — said the minister.
How is the money distributed?
According to the ministry, the 28 million euros were distributed as follows:
15 million euros from the Recovery Plan went to centralized purchase of almost 1.9 million new textbooks for grades 1-3 and 4-5 (according to the new educational program).
13 million euros from the state budget were given directly to schools to independently buy educational materials from a special list. This year, kindergartens also received money for the first time — for workbooks for preschoolers.
Despite this, some schools still ask parents to pay extra. For example, in one case the amount for a fourth-grade student was 50.02 euros.
What should parents do?
The Ministry of Education promises to publish data on funding for each individual school: how much money it received from the state and how much it spent on textbooks. This will allow parents to check whether their school's funding really decreased compared to last year.
