School Citizens’ Council: Academedia tries to milk us on money

Two years ago, the City of Stockholm calculated the compensation for its own upper secondary schools with four percent on average.

But they did not give as much compensation to the free schools, which received almost two percent in list.

It is contrary to the principle of equal treatment, that all schools should receive as much compensation, according to the Academedia free school group, which appealed the city’s decision for 2023 to the Administrative Court – which, however, gave the city the right.

Such appeals make Academedia and other free school groups regularly.

Last year wrote DN The fact that Academedia claimed 6.55 million in retroactive compensation from Södertälje municipality for costs that only the municipality had.

School Minister Lotta Edholm (L) was upset and said that the requirements of the free schools strengthened her in the view that the financing system for the free schools must be redone.

The city’s decision for 2023, not to count The remuneration equally to the free schools, was appealed by Academedia right up in the Supreme Administrative Court, which has now decided not to grant a trial permit.

This means that the city has been right, the judgment of the Administrative Court applies.

The school mayor Emilia Bjuggren (S) is critical that Academedia is running processes for getting more money from the general public.

– Academedia can make a profit and distribute the money to the owners. But without having to report their costs and how they move money between schools and groups in the same way we have to do, she says.

She is also critical of That they put resources on such processes, which also puts the city into work, and takes resources from, among other things, teaching.

– If you are a large and serious group, you should put your power into generating good quality in teaching, not constantly trying to milk the municipalities on more money, she says, mentioning Practical High School in Täby as an example.

This week, Academedia received a penalty of SEK 8.5 million from the School Inspectorate because the school has serious and extensive deficiencies. Among other things, students do not receive the support they are entitled to. The rating does not work properly, nor does it do the workplace -based learning.

– If we make deficits, we will pay more to the free schools afterwards. At the same time, they can make deficits and have significant quality deficiencies without having to repay money for us. And at the same time pay out profits to their owners, says Emilia Bjuggren.

Only this legal process has been ongoing for two years with re -examinations and appeals.

– It has taken a lot of resources that could have been spent on better student health, school books, more teachers, says Emilia Bjuggren.

Even the OAG has found that the compensation for the free schools beats unfairly against the students in the municipal schools who have greater responsibility and higher costs.

Gustav Blomberg is an economist at Academedia and the person who has conducted appeals in the courts.

The School Citizen Council do you think should put the resources on teaching instead of « milk the system on money »?

– We should not exaggerate how much resources we spend on this, says Gustav Blomberg.

He states that he spent 40 hours on this process as part of his usual work, but does not want to make any estimate of how many processes the Group currently runs.

– But deficiencies in schools cannot exclude our opportunity to appeal a price decision. In the long run, we must have proper financing, he says.

Academedia makes surpluses that you distribute as a profit. The shareholders receive « extra dividends » by selling their shares back to Academedia for a higher price. The Group’s CEO earns SEK 10-12 million a year. It can be interpreted as getting enough money from the general public.

– We absolutely do not get enough money when it comes to high school in Greater Stockholm. It is grossly underfunded and is far below Gothenburg and Malmö and under the national price list, says Gustav Blomberg.

-Then we have surpluses in our operations, which come from all of our Swedish operations, but also our non-school money-financed operations, and from abroad. Then it is up to our owners to decide how any surplus should be used. I can’t comment on that because I myself am not an owner in Academedia, says Gustav Blomberg.

He regrets that both the District Court and the Supreme Administrative Court has not granted a trial permit. This means that there is no guiding judgment.

This means that AcadeMedia has already appealed in 2024 and 2025 compensation.

– There we have good hope of getting the Administrative Court with us because the state of evidence is slightly better. We are also not alone. Eight other independent principals have also appealed for 2024, including the Knowledge School, Stockholm City Mission, Viktor Rydberg, Jensen and Edukatus Alliance (formerly called the Thoréngruppen).

How much money it can be about, Gustav Blomberg does not want to answer with the motivation that it is too complex.