{"id":19702,"date":"2026-06-09T15:30:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/the-madrid-regional-governments-education-secretary-hosts-cicae\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T13:39:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:39:58","slug":"the-madrid-regional-governments-education-secretary-hosts-cicae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/the-madrid-regional-governments-education-secretary-hosts-cicae\/","title":{"rendered":"The Madrid Regional Government’s Education Secretary Hosts CICAE"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Mercedes Zarzalejo, the Regional Minister of Education, Science, and Universities for the Community of Madrid, met today with a delegation from the Association of Private and Independent Schools (CICAE), consisting of its president, Jos\u00e9 Antonio Rois; its vice president, \u00c1ngel de la Vega; and its executive director, Elena Cid.<\/span><\/p>

Also participating in the meeting were Jorge El\u00edas de la Pe\u00f1a y Montes de Oca, Director General of Subsidized Education, Scholarships, and Financial Aid, and Soledad Raboso, Deputy Chief of Staff.<\/span><\/p>

The meeting took place in an atmosphere of very positive dialogue and provided an opportunity to address some of the main challenges and opportunities facing Madrid\u2019s education system, as well as to convey CICAE\u2019s vision regarding the role of independent private education in the region.<\/span><\/p>

The Contribution of Independent Private Education<\/span><\/h2>

The CICAE delegation conveyed to the Regional Ministry the importance of independent private education within Madrid\u2019s educational system. Currently, this sector accounts for more than 16% of the region\u2019s student population and is essential to ensuring educational pluralism, diversity in educational approaches, and freedom of education. <\/span><\/p>

He also highlighted the excellent academic results achieved by independent private schools and their contribution to the education system through the full self-funding of their educational programs, which represents significant savings for the public coffers.<\/span><\/p>

More autonomy for schools and freedom of choice for families<\/span><\/h2>

Among the issues discussed, CICAE highlighted the need to continue making progress toward greater organizational and curricular autonomy for schools. The association believes that giving schools greater decision-making authority is essential for them to develop their own innovative educational programs tailored to the needs of students and today\u2019s society. <\/span><\/p>

Similarly, representatives of the association emphasized the importance of promoting direct financial assistance programs for families that ensure genuine freedom of choice in selecting a school. CICAE believes that all families should be able to choose the educational program they consider most appropriate for their children, regardless of their financial means. <\/span><\/p>

Ensuring Compliance with the Law in the New Subsidized School System<\/span><\/h2>

During the meeting, participants also discussed the situation of the \u201cNueva concertada\u201d schools in the Community of Madrid and the importance of ensuring compliance with current laws regarding the provision of free education in publicly funded schools.<\/span><\/p>

In this regard, CICAE noted that charging fees to families undermines the model established by the regulations and encourages commercialization and profit-making in publicly funded centers.<\/span><\/p>

The association also pointed out that, in the Community of Madrid, 44% of subsidized schools are for-profit entities\u2014a reality that, in CICAE\u2019s view, makes it particularly necessary to strengthen oversight and transparency mechanisms to ensure the proper use of public funds.<\/span><\/p>

CICAE thanks the Secretary of Education for her warm welcome and willingness to listen to the association\u2019s proposals, reaffirming its commitment to maintaining an ongoing dialogue in support of a quality, pluralistic education that respects academic freedom.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Mercedes Zarzalejo, the Regional Minister of Education, Science, and Universities for the Community of Madrid, met today with a delegation from the Association of Private and Independent Schools (CICAE), consisting of its president, Jos\u00e9 Antonio Rois; its vice president, \u00c1ngel de la Vega; and its executive director, Elena Cid. Also participating in the meeting were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[401],"tags":[599,70,598],"class_list":["post-19702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","tag-assembly","tag-cicae","tag-members-meeting"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19703,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19702\/revisions\/19703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cicae.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}