La Palma d'Ebre approves the ordinance for grants for books and school materials

The La Palma d’Ebre City Council has initially approved the municipal ordinance regulating the granting of individual grants for the acquisition of books and/or school materials, enrollment expenses, and transport and accommodation expenses. The extraordinary plenary session on October 9, 2026, adopted the agreement, which is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Tarragona on October 15, 2026, with the reference CVE 2026-09550. The text is now subject to public consultation for 30 business days.

The ordinance outlines the regime of these grants in 20 articles and sets its purpose as contributing to ensure that secondary and post-compulsory education students registered in the municipality can cover the costs of books, school materials, enrollment, transport, and accommodation. The document has been processed as a regulatory ordinance for subsidies and incorporates a data protection clause in accordance with Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). As supplementary law, the Law 38/2003, of November 17, General Law on Subsidies; Royal Decree 887/2006, of July 21; Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the common administrative procedure, and the Entity’s General Ordinance on Subsidies shall apply.

Public information and entry into force

The agreement subjects the text to public exhibition via announcement in the BOP, the DOGC, daily written media, the municipal electronic office, and the transparency portal. The term begins to count the day after the last of the official publications.

• Public information period: 30 business days.
• If no claims or allegations are presented, the provisional agreement becomes final without the need for a new plenary agreement.
• The final agreement and the full text must be published in the BOP and on the electronic office, and transmitted to the State Administration and the Generalitat de Catalunya.
• The ordinance will enter into force once published in full and after the term of article 65.2 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, regulating the bases of the local regime, has elapsed.

The document appears electronically signed by the mayor, Marina Rojals del Alamo, on October 13, 2026.

Who can apply for the grants

The grants are aimed at the family units of young people registered in the municipality who are pursuing formal education in public, private, or official subsidized educational centers.

• Stages covered: from 1st to 4th year of ESO, Baccalaureate in any modality, intermediate vocational training cycles (CFGM), higher vocational training cycles (CFGS), training and insertion programs (PFI), and university degrees.
• All members of the family unit must be registered in the municipality throughout the school year.
• It is a requirement to prove enrollment in the corresponding course.
• The student must be a maximum of 22 years old during the calendar year of the call.

The documentation to be submitted includes the grant application, a photocopy of the enrollment, a sworn statement of expenditure on materials and of not having requested any other subsidy for the same purpose, proof of the expenditure incurred, and the account number. Documents may be registered at the General Registry of the City Council or through the municipal electronic office.

Procedure, amounts, and deadlines

The awarding procedure will be non-competitive: subsidies will be granted in order of submission of complete applications until the available budget credit is exhausted, with 100% grants for students who meet the requirements.

• The maximum amount per beneficiary and the eligible amounts for each line will be determined in the call for applications, which will be approved annually by the Governing Board provided there is a budget allocation.
• The grant is subject to budget availability and the amount cannot exceed the cost of the activity.
• The deadline for awarding and justification shall be, at most, six months; the lack of a resolution will have the effect of a dismissal.
• After one month from the notification of the award without objections, the grant is understood to be tacitly accepted.
• If the documentation is incorrect or incomplete, there will be ten business days to rectify it.

The grants are incompatible with other calls for the same purposes from other administrations, such as the Ministry of Education and Science, the Generalitat de Catalunya, or the County Council, and the total amount received cannot exceed the cost of the activity.

Control, reimbursement, and appeals

Beneficiaries are obliged to allocate the grant to the purpose for which it was granted, to submit to the verification and financial control actions of the Entity’s General Audit, and to keep the supporting documentation for a period of no less than six years. Non-compliance may lead to the revocation, reduction, or reimbursement of the grant, with the requirement of late payment interest from the moment of payment.

The granted subsidies will be published indicating the call, the budget allocation, the beneficiary, the amount, and the purpose, and the guidelines must be published in the National Subsidy Database (BDNS). Against the resolution, which ends the administrative route, a contentious-administrative appeal may be filed within two months before the Court of First Instance of Tarragona, or an appeal for reversal before the same body within one month.

The measure has a direct economic impact on families in the municipality with school-age children, as it establishes by regulation the criteria, amounts, and deadlines for grants covering everything from compulsory secondary education (ESO) to university studies. The public information period currently open is the final window for residents and entities to submit allegations before the text is definitively approved.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Tarragona, October 15, 2026, section I, pp. 1-10 (official reference: CVE 2026-09550).