Did the Romanian government reduce the Ministry of Education's 2024 budget by 15 percent? No, that is not true: According to the state budget plan for 2024, the Ministry of Education is slated to receive the highest increase in funding among all ministries. However, there will be a revision in the additional funding allocated to the Education department from Romania's Consolidated General Budget in 2024, reducing it from the initially planned 15 percent to 10 percent.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here), posted on TikTok on December 9, 2023, under the title "No money for Education," translated from Romanian into English by Lead Stories staff.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri Dec 15 10:26:50 2023 UTC)
The person in the video says that the government intends to reduce education funding by 15 percent, citing a draft law that outlines austerity measures, including the proposed 15 percent cut in education funding for the 2024 budget. However, his claim conflates two separate events that concern funding for the Ministry of Education.
In 2024, Romania is set to implement two new Education laws: 198 and 199 of 2023. These laws outline a key reform where the Ministry of Education would receive 15 percent of the Consolidated General Budget (CGB). The CGB includes all the budgets within the state's budgetary system, covering everything that the government spends. According to the draft laws of the 2024 state budget, which were made public by the Ministry of Finance, the CGB is projected to be 586 billion lei (approximately 129.2 billion dollars).
But, the Ministry of Education won't get the entire 15 percent from the Consolidated General Budget (CGB). A draft Emergency Ordinance, part of the state budget laws (archived here), indicates a reduction of the funding by one-third (archived here). The ordinance specifies that only 10 percent, instead of 15 percent, will be allocated. Additionally, the text mentions a postponement to 2025 of the implementation of the provisions from the two new Education laws.
However, this alteration does not signify a reduction in the existing education budget; instead, it entails a decrease in supplementary funding and a delay in the originally pledged funding.
In 2024, the Ministry of Education is set to receive 57.4 billion lei, equivalent to 3.3 percent of the GDP. This marks a substantial 61 percent increase compared to the 2023 budget, making it the ministry with the most significant budget rise, as per the 2024 state budget plan (archived here) released on December 13, 2023.
