Extremadura sets minimum services ahead of the September teachers' strike

The General Directorate of Teaching Personnel of the Regional Ministry of Education and Vocational Training has established the minimum services that must be maintained in public non-university education centers in Extremadura during the strike called by SINDI-K for September 24 and 25, 2026. The measure is detailed in the Resolution of September 21, 2026, published in the Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE) number 184, dated September 23, 2026, with reference 2026062412. The agreement on the minimums was reached following the meeting held with the Strike Committee on September 21.

The National Independent Union for Development and Innovation (SINDI-K) notified the Labor Authority of the call for a sectoral strike under Article 3 of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977, of March 4, on labor relations. The strike extends to all teaching staff providing services in public non-university education centers, regardless of their contractual link, dependent on the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports or the educational administrations of the autonomous communities. According to the organizers, the strike will take place from 00:00 hours on September 24 until 24:00 hours on September 25, 2026.

The resolution is based on Article 28.2 of the Spanish Constitution, which mandates guaranteeing the maintenance of essential community services, and Article 27, which enshrines the right to education. The Administration also invokes Article 10, second paragraph, of Royal Decree-Law 17/1977 and Article 152.1.m) of Law 13/2015, of April 8, on the Public Service of Extremadura.

Essential services and justification criteria

Essential services are considered to be the activities necessary to guarantee the students’ right to education, the center’s management activities that ensure the working day for staff who do not support the strike, and, in centers with boarding facilities, the care of boarding students during hours when they are not cared for by other staff.

The establishment of the minimums is justified by:

• The students’ right to education.
• The right to work of the staff who do not support the strike.
• The right of parents of underage students to carry out their professional activities, as the strike coincides with working days.
• The need to guarantee minimum standards of coexistence.

Minimums by type of center

• CEI, CEP, and CEIP: director/directress, head of studies appointed by the management in centers with more than one, and one teacher for every 60 students or fraction thereof.
• CRA: director/directress in the main town and one teacher in each of the remaining towns.
• Unitary Schools: one teacher.
• IESO and IES: director/directress, appointed head of studies, and one teacher for every 90 students or fraction thereof.
• CIFP: director/directress.
• Ordinary centers with students with special educational needs (SEN): one additional teacher for every 25 students or fraction thereof with such needs.
• EOI, music conservatories, plastic arts and design schools, adult education centers, EOEP, CPR, home schools, and residences: director/directress.
• CEE: director/directress and one teacher for every 60 students or fraction thereof.

Management, Non-compliance, and Appeals

The person exercising the management of the center shall be competent to guarantee the opening at the start of the school day, nominally determine the personnel assigned to minimum services when there is no consensus, and facilitate information regarding the monitoring of the strike. Non-compliance with the obligation to provide essential services shall be sanctioned in accordance with current regulations.

The resolution takes effect on the day of its publication in the DOE. Against it, which exhausts the administrative route, an optional appeal for reversal may be filed within one month before the Director General of Teaching Personnel, or a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed within two months before the High Court of Justice of Extremadura. The document was signed in Mérida on September 21, 2026, by the Director General of Teaching Personnel, David Moreno Rego.

The decision directly affects Extremaduran families: centers must open and maintain teaching activity with reduced staff for two working days, while students with specific needs and boarders receive reinforced attention. The minimums agreed upon with the strike committee seek to balance the teaching staff’s right to strike with the right to education and the work-life balance of parents.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura, number 184, of September 23, 2026, section III (official reference: 2026062412).