Buenos Aires Families Detail Classroom Disruptions from School Funding Cuts

Parents at two public primary schools in Palermo Soho reported on 10 July that basic supplies including notebooks and chalk had not arrived for the second consecutive month, leaving teachers to improvise lessons with personal materials.

The complaints arrive as President Javier Milei’s administration enforces IMF-mandated spending caps that have already trimmed provincial education transfers by 12 percent since March, forcing city districts to absorb higher costs for imported textbooks whose prices track the dollar.

At Escuela Primaria Nº 18 on Calle Honduras and at the Escuela Nº 9 annex near Avenida Juan B. Justo in Villa Crespo, parent associations have begun collecting signatures to request emergency municipal allocations before the August winter break.

Daily Realities Shared by Families

One mother whose two children attend the Honduras school said she now spends 4,800 pesos monthly on photocopies and pencils that used to be provided, an amount equal to one week’s groceries at the local Carrefour Express on Scalabrini Ortiz. A teacher at the Villa Crespo annex described classes of 38 students sharing 12 working chairs after maintenance contracts lapsed in April. Residents near Plaza Italia noted that after-school art workshops previously run by the Centro Cultural Borges have been suspended, removing the only free creative outlet for dozens of Palermo children whose families cannot afford private lessons.

City education statistics released on 5 July showed a 9 percent rise in absenteeism across district schools since the start of the second term, with the steepest increases recorded in Palermo and Villa Crespo. The same report listed average per-student supply budgets at 2,150 pesos for the current quarter, down from 3,400 pesos in the same period last year.

Next Steps for Affected Households

School councils at both sites will meet again on 18 July to vote on sending a joint letter to the Buenos Aires Ministry of Education. Families can obtain printed copies of the petition at the guardhouse of Escuela Nº 18 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. or submit contact details through the Villa Crespo parent WhatsApp group to receive updates on any emergency supply drives organised before the end of the month.