Portuguese gov't to pay local councils 13,600 euros for every teacher laid off

Portuguese city and town councils will be offered a bonus of 13,600 euros (169,660 U.S. dollars) for every teacher they can lay off, under a proposed pilot-project to decentralize education put forward by the country's Education Ministry.

According to a report in local newspaper Diario de Noticias, the proposal, sent to town and city councils two weeks ago, is under negotiation and was made public Saturday by the National Teacher's Federation (Fenprof).

Each teacher that a municipal council chooses to lay off will earn the council half of his or her equivalent salary for a year, or a figure of 13,594.71 euros.

"This (proposal) is like some John Wayne film where after a robbery they start discussing how to split the spoils; half for you and half for me," Mario Nogueira, the head of Fenprof, told a press conference.

The pilot-project, which will involve 10 municipal councils across the country, also intends for local councils to be responsible for hiring teachers, managing education facilities and curricula. Enditem