Education sets a 20% minimum staff requirement during the break in subsidized schooling

The Department of Education, Science, Universities and Vocational Training has established the minimum services that must be maintained during the teaching strike called for the coming October 6, 2026. The decision comes via the Order of September 30, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of Galicia number 189, of Monday, October 5, 2026, in its section III, Other provisions. The regulation guarantees the opening of centers and the custody of minors with a minimum presence of management staff, subordinate staff, and 20% of the teaching and complementary staff.

The order signed by the counselor Román Rodríguez González responds to the strike call communicated by the trade union organizations FSIE, FESP UGT, CC.OO. Ensino, FeUSO, SNEP de Galicia, and CIG-Ensino. The strike will affect all centers within the territorial scope of the Autonomous Community included in the functional scope of the VII Collective Agreement of private teaching companies supported totally or partially with public funds and in Title V of the XVI General Collective Agreement of centers and services for the care of people with disabilities, relating to specific special education centers supported totally or partially with public funds. The strike will take place on October 6 between 00:00 and 24:00 hours.

The regulation bases its justification on Decree 155/1988, of June 9, which defines education as an essential service and empowers counselors to establish, before each strike, the minimum activity necessary. The educational Administration also invokes Article 39 of the Constitution and Article 7 of Law 4/2011, of June 30, on coexistence and participation of the educational community, to emphasize the duty of comprehensive protection of minors.

What minimum services are established

Article 1 of the order establishes two blocks of minimum services for the affected centers:

• The director or a member of the management team and one subordinate staff member in each school center.
• 20% of the teaching staff and 20% of the complementary staff.

The regulation emphasizes that in any case, the opening and closing of all centers will be guaranteed, as well as the custody, security, and protection of minors. The 20% percentage is justified because the presence of only two people would not sufficiently guarantee the care of the students depending on their number.

Special education and staff designation

The text pays specific attention to students in specific special education centers and special education units in ordinary centers, who require more specific attention, and reinforces the need for a minimum presence of complementary staff.

The nominal designation of the personnel who will cover the minimum services corresponds to the management of each center and will be published on the notice board of the affected centers. Failure to comply with the obligation to attend to these services will be sanctioned according to current regulations, while the order does not limit the rights that the regulations governing the strike recognize to the personnel.

Immediate background

This is not the first time this academic year that the department has regulated a strike in subsidized education. The Order of September 4, 2026, published in DOG number 170 on September 8, 2026, established the minimum services for the strike of September 9, then on a partial day from 9:00 to 12:00 hours and with practically identical content. In that case, the scope was limited to private education centers supported by public funds.

The new order will enter into force on the same day of its publication in the Official Gazette of Galicia.

The decision directly affects families, students, and the teaching and complementary staff of subsidized centers and special education centers, who must consult the notice boards of their centers to see who is designated to cover the minimum services. The publication of the order also allows it to be anticipated that the centers will remain open throughout the strike day.

Source: Official Gazette of Galicia, no. 189, October 5, 2026, section III, pp. 51299-51301 (official reference: CVE-DOG: 6riufuj1-0av6-kil9-y2u3-i692lxzoljb2).