Starting in September, all teachers placed in schools more than 70 kilometers away from their homes will receive travel support, with those in regions with the highest need for educators receiving a higher amount.
The introduction of an additional payment is the main feature in the proposal presented today by the Government to teachers’ unions regarding support for displaced teachers.
Last week, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced the expansion, starting from the beginning of the school year, of that support to all teachers placed in schools more than 70 kilometers from their fiscal residence.
The measure accelerates the implementation of a compensation scheme approved in March in the Assembly of the Republic, opposed by PSD and CDS-PP, which modified the regime created by the Government last September, originally intended only for teachers placed in schools considered to be in need due to a lack of teachers.
The expansion of the support was initially planned to take effect with the State Budget for 2026, starting in January.
When questioned about what changed since March for the Government to now decide to advance the implementation of a law that was previously rejected by parties in the executive, the Minister of Education, Science, and Innovation stated that nothing had changed and asserted that PSD and CDS-PP “voted correctly at the time.”
“Absolutely nothing changed. What we had said was that we would expand the measure, but we would study the effects and the measure had to be directed toward territories where there is more difficulty in attracting teachers,” stated Fernando Alexandre.
According to the minister, this support “was always seen as a reward, an incentive to relocate teachers to the most needed schools.”
For the majority of beneficiary teachers, the values remain unchanged: 150 euros for those between 70 and 200 kilometers from home, 300 euros for those between 200 and 300 kilometers, and 450 euros for those teaching more than 300 kilometers from their residence.
However, contrary to the provisions of the legislation approved by parliament in March, the Government is now introducing an additional payment for teachers teaching in schools located in geographically deficient pedagogical areas.
In these cases, teachers will receive an additional 15 to 50 euros, depending on the distance: 165 euros monthly if they are less than 200 kilometers, 335 euros between 200 and 300 kilometers, and 500 euros if the distance is greater than 300 kilometers.
According to the Ministry, last school year, 2,807 teachers placed in 234 needy schools benefited from travel support.
From September, the ministry estimates that more than eight thousand teachers will benefit, representing an investment of about 25 million euros annually.
The additional payment will benefit not only teachers placed in needy schools (where in the last two school years there were students without classes for at least 60 consecutive days) but in all schools located in geographically deficient pedagogical areas, which the Ministry has not yet identified.
