Thus the remuneration of administrators in the education sector can now increase more rapidly than the salaries of their lower-ranked colleagues, states the AOB teachers union. This increase is the result of an increase in the ministerial salary.

The news has not been welcomed by governing party D66. Member of Parliament Paul van Meenen is keen to call the minister to the Lower House to face oral questions. This would occur on Tuesday during the weekly question hour.

‘Get rid of it’

Since 1999 administrators have not been included in the collective employment agreement (CAO) for teaching staff. “As a Member of Parliament I've always opposed a separate CAO for administrators. Undesirable, unnecessary, get rid of it!” tweeted Van Meenen this weekend.

The Lower House agrees with this standpoint, as became apparent in April when a motion by opposition parties SP and PVV was carried. But Minister Van Engelshoven had advised against the motion. “Really, it is up to the CAO parties themselves to decide who is covered by which CAO,” she believed. “That's not for us as a cabinet to impose.”

Since 1999 supervisory boards, in the position of employer, have been able to determine for themselves the salaries of their administrators. But when the incomes of these educational administrators increased sharply, the government intervened to restrain these top salaries.

Maximums

Not all educational administrators earn the absolute maximum. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) applies seven salary classes. They depend on the ‘complexity’ of the institution: an independent primary school cannot pay as much as a large university.

Maximums are similarly applied in other publicly financed sectors, such as health care and the housing corporations. These maximum salaries provide scope for only health insurers to earn more than a minister.