President declares contest for director of SLEP Chinchorro void

The President of the Republic declared the public competition to fill the position of Executive Director of the Local Public Education Service (SLEP) of Chinchorro void, a first-level hierarchical management position that will remain vacant and must be filled through a new selection process. The decision is formalized in Decree No. 187, dated August 7, 2026, from the Ministry of Education, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile No. 44,547, dated September 10, 2026.

The position belongs to the first-level hierarchical management staff, grade 4° EUS, and its provision is governed by the selection process for senior public managers provided for in Law No. 19,882. The declaration of void is based on Official Letter Gab. Pres. No. 1,113, dated July 30, 2026, and is communicated to the Civil Service within the ninety-day period established in article fifty-first of said law.

A Central Position of the New Public Education

The SLEP of Chinchorro is a public body, functionally and territorially decentralized, with its own legal personality and assets, created under Law No. 21,040, which establishes the Public Education System. Its direction and administration correspond to an Executive Director, appointed by the President of the Republic, who acts as the superior head of the service.

The service attends to four communes of the Arica and Parinacota Region:

• Arica
• Camarones
• Putre
• General Lagos

Its personnel staff was established by DFL No. 39 of 2018, from the Ministry of Education, and Decree No. 72 of 2018 stipulated that the service begin its functions on January 3, 2019.

Process Background and Relaunch

The competition was promoted following Ordinary Official Letter No. 480, dated November 19, 2025, from the Ministry of Education, which requested the initiation of selection processes for first-level hierarchical management positions of the SLEP of Chinchorro, among others. After evaluating the shortlist, the President resolved to declare the process void through official letter Gab. Pres. No. 1,113, dated July 30, 2026.

The decree expressly establishes that the filling of the position must be carried out through a new Public Competition, in accordance with article fifty-first of Law No. 19,882. The document bears the signatures of the President of the Republic, José Antonio Kast Rist; the Minister of Education, María Paz Arzola González; and the Undersecretary of Education, Daniel Rodríguez Morales.

Impact on Public Education

The vacancy of the executive directorate leaves a strategic position for educational management in the northern zone of the country without a holder, at a time when the public education system is transitioning toward the consolidation of local services. The relaunch of the competition implies a new selection cycle for senior executives, which delays the definitive provision of the service leadership and keeps the administrative and pedagogical management of the communes of Arica, Camarones, Putre, and General Lagos in suspense.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,547, Thursday, September 10, 2026, Section I, p. 1-2 (official reference: CVE 2867175).