Comment on the Social democratic proposal about profit taking

The Swedish Social Democrats have today presented a proposal to the party congress in November to ban profit taking in the school sector. The proposal has created many questions from employees, media, and investors.

How schools should be run and funded has been debated for many years. Today’s proposal has in fact been a well-known political position from the Social Democrats for many years.

This proposal is likely to be accepted by the congress and therefore be debated during the election campaign until the election in 2022. There is however no public enquiry on the subject, or a proposition to vote on for the parliament and it is a long process leading towards a proposition being put forward. The government that is elected in September will decide if it will act on this subject.

Everyday, we experience many of the problems in the Swedish school. None of these problems can be solved with a ban on profits. On the contrary, we need to work together to find solutions to improve and develop the Swedish school system. Independent school providers are an asset in a growing sector. This is underlined by the fact that an increasing number of children and students, today close to 400 000, attend schools run by independent educations providers.