Schools, like any institution that accommodates hundreds of people daily, must cover various expenses. These range from purchasing chalk to repairing a roof. Some educational institutions, due to their specific characteristics, must also ensure the provision of food or transportation for their students. Given this situation, we ask: where do the resources to meet these obligations come from? Since public education is a right, it should be the State’s responsibility to guarantee the fulfillment of all these needs. However, in practice, we see that school maintenance relies heavily on private contributions from education workers and students’ families. Through cooperative associations, raffles, personal vehicles, and even money from their own pockets, they often end up solving these issues.
In this report, we aim to analyze the funds allocated by the Government that, in theory, should address these needs. We will begin by examining the evolution of the Abono, Inicio, Fijo, Combustible, and Comedor funds from 2010 to the present. We will then provide a brief analysis of what happened in 2020, when virtual education was predominant, before presenting the current state of schools this year. Finally, we will conclude with a short analysis of the national fund created to support COVID-19 prevention measures.