Education selects six public centers in Castilla y León for the Centros BITS program

The Regional Ministry of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León has resolved which public compulsory education centers will participate in the educational innovation program “BITS Centers: bilingual, inclusive, technologically secure and sustainable centers” during the 2026/2027, 2027/2028, and 2028/2029 academic years. The decision is adopted through Order EDU/1145/2026, dated October 29, published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León (BOCYL) no. 212, dated November 3, 2026. In total, six public centers have been selected and three others were excluded for not achieving a sufficient score.

The program is governed by Order EDU/438/2022, dated April 25 (BOCYL no. 94, May 18), which regulates the participation procedure for public centers, and the call for applications was conducted via Order EDU/587/2026, dated June 18 (BOCYL no. 123, June 29). The resolution is issued in accordance with article 9.6 of the aforementioned order, based on a reasoned proposal from the Director General of Innovation and Teacher Training and with the prior report of the “BITS Centers” Regional Commission. The text was signed in Valladolid on October 29, 2026, by the Regional Minister of Education, María del Valle Ares González.

The selection is ordered by score, calculated based on three criteria: project content, project characteristics, and the center’s track record, with a maximum of 180 points. The number of admitted centers is limited by province and educational stage, according to the second section of the call.

Six public centers selected

Annex I lists the admitted centers, including their code, town, province, score, and educational stage:

• IES Juana I de Castilla (Tordesillas, Valladolid), code 47007291, 178 points, secondary education.
• IES León Felipe (Benavente, Zamora), code 49000418, 176 points, secondary education.
• IES Juan de Juni (Valladolid), code 47006673, 167 points, secondary education.
• IES Andrés Laguna (Segovia), code 40003642, 163 points, secondary education.
• IES Río Cuerpo de Hombre (Béjar, Salamanca), code 37001031, 162.33 points, secondary education.
• CEIP Hospital de la Cruz (Toro, Zamora), code 49006214, 162 points, primary education.

Five of the six selected centers provide secondary education and only one is for primary education. By province, Valladolid and Zamora contribute two centers each, while Segovia and Salamanca contribute one each.

An institute in Soria is left out despite having more points

Annex II lists the three non-selected centers “due to not having achieved a higher score based on the maximum number of centers that can be selected per province and educational stage”:

• IES Villa del Moncayo (Ólvega, Soria), code 42004029, 166 points, secondary education.
• IES Germán Sánchez Ruipérez (Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Salamanca), code 37013882, 160.67 points, secondary education.
• IES Leonardo da Vinci (Alba de Tormes, Salamanca), code 37010091, 157 points, secondary education.

The most striking case is that of IES Villa del Moncayo, which with 166 points exceeds IES Juan de Juni (167 points in annex I, but with a spot assigned within Valladolid), meaning that the territorial distribution by province and stage prevails over the overall score. The order clarifies that the vacant spot in the province of Ávila was filled in accordance with section second.2 of Order EDU/587/2026.

A subsidized school authorized for the first time

On the same date and within the same program, Order EDU/1144/2026, of October 29, authorizes for the first time the participation of a subsidized center (centro concertado), in accordance with Order EDU/390/2024, of April 24 (BOCYL no. 89, of May 9), and the call for applications of Order EDU/585/2026, of June 18. The authorized center is:

• Colegio Sagrado Corazón-HH. Salesianas (Burgos), code 09001268, 127 points, primary and secondary education.

Its score is broken down into 69 points for project content, 55 for project characteristics, and 3 for the center’s track record.

Appeal deadlines

Both orders exhaust the administrative route. Interested centers have one month to file an optional appeal for reversal (recurso potestativo de reposición) before the Minister of Education, or two months to go to the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Castilla y León. The deadlines are counted from the day following the publication in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León, that is, from November 4, 2026.

The resolution determines which centers access the bilingualism and digitalization resources associated with the program for three full academic years, which conditions the organization of staff, teacher training, and the educational offer that families will find in the coming years. The fact that an institute with 166 points is left out while another with 167 enters demonstrates that the territorial criterion, and not only the quality of the project, decides the final distribution.

Source: Official Gazette of Castilla y León (BOCYL), no. 212, of November 3, 2026, section I. D. Other Provisions, pp. 132-135 (official reference: Order EDU/1145/2026, of October 29).