Cities in the Tölzer Land rely on all-day school - but face challenges

Every child who starts school from 2026 has a legal right to all-day care.

In the district, the outgoing federal government makes this decision on a school landscape that is already facing a radical change.

All three cities are working on plans for school construction.

However, it is still unclear what specific effects the new law will have on the projects.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen - In Wolfratshausen, a general renovation and expansion of the primary school on Hammerschmiedweg is planned.

As things stand, the city will have to spend around 50 million euros for this.

The fact that the subject of all-day care will play a greater role in the future, "of course we took that into account when planning the room," explains Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner.

Wolfratshausen's mayor is particularly concerned about the search for personnel

Of course, it is impossible to predict exactly how many parents will ultimately make use of their right to all-day care.

However, the Wolfratshausen town hall chief worries less than the premises about the question of how to find qualified support staff.

Heilinglechner generally criticizes the fact that the federal government is once again making a requirement from above, which the municipalities then have to implement at the lower level.

"Corona has left no one without a trace," he says.

"The situation of the municipal budgets is tense." Since it is "at some point no longer affordable", everything is imposed on the cities and municipalities - even if there is subsidy.

In Tölz, the demand for all-day care is calm

Apart from that, Heilinglechner does not deny the need for all-day care. "In Wolfratshausen currently 60 percent of primary school students are in after-school care and lunchtime care," he notes. “That means that this system is accepted.” That is only logical in a region in which many families are financially dependent on both parents being employed.

The Tölz town hall is relatively relaxed about the legal right to all-day care.

"We will of course fulfill this obligation, it can be implemented in any case," says Birte Otterbach, the city's press spokeswoman.

The Jahnschule was a pioneer when the bound all-day school was introduced here in 2014.

According to Otterbach, there is an all-day class with 18 to 22 children in grades 1 to 4.

In addition, 98 girls and boys are registered for lunchtime care at the three primary schools in Tölz, and there are 45 places in the after-school care center.

"It may be that structural changes will be necessary, but that is not yet foreseeable."

Exactly what the city will have to provide if the families have a legal right to full-time care from 2026 onwards is simply impossible to predict at this point in time.

"It's still too far away for the parents who are affected," says Otterbach.

Factors such as future class sizes or the size of the immigration could not be predicted with any certainty either.

"It may be that structural changes will be necessary, but that is not yet foreseeable."

Accordingly, the new legal claim has not yet been incorporated into the plans for the expansion of the Jahnschule.

The shell of the extension was built here in the past few weeks, and the topping-out ceremony will be celebrated in a few days.

"But in principle one has taken into account that one could offer all-day care there."

Geretsried needs a third elementary school in the medium term

The city of Geretsried is to get a third elementary school in the medium term.

The surroundings of the school center have been considered, the specific search for a location is still ongoing.

“In the planning, the topic of all-day school is of course also taken into account,” explains town hall spokesman Thomas Loibl.

The subject of all-day care "we in Geretsried have been following very closely for some time now," Loibl continues.

“In terms of construction, we have positioned ourselves well in the past few months with two new lunchtime childcare facilities at both primary school locations and created sufficient space.” There are 130 places at the Isardammschule and 170 at the Karl-Lederer-Grundschule.

"The challenge", so Loibl's conclusion, "is currently less in the available space than in the number of skilled workers in Geretsried."

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