Who is Anne Genetet?
Anne Genetet – National Assembly video stream © National Assembly video stream
With the formation of the union of the right and the appointment of Mr. Barnier as Prime Minister, the waltz of ministers resumes on Rue de Grenelle. On September 19, Nicole Belloubet had won against Annie Genevard and seemed likely to remain in office even against V. Spillebout. Finally, on September 21, it was Anne Genetet who was appointed to the Ministry of National Education. She inherited a ministry with no Youth. She had a LR delegate minister, Alexandre Portier, in charge of “academic success and professional education”.
Little is known about Anne Genetet except that she is a Renaissance MP and close to G. Attal. She has only spoken in the Assembly on defense issues or those relating to expatriates.
This may have surprised commentators. But it is not uncommon for the Minister of National Education not to come from education. This was the case, to take famous and recent examples, of Monory, Robien, Chatel or Vallaud-Belkacem. On the other hand, it is much rarer to install on rue de Grenelle a personality who has not held any important management position, which is the case for A. Genetet. It is a doubly inexperienced minister who arrives in the ministry that manages the largest budget and half of the state civil servants.
A decisive entourage
Among these predecessors, who will she be closer to? Gilles de Robien, who has a lot of ministerial experience, but who has never taken on education issues. He let his office, including his deputy director JM Blanquer, run the ministry in a brutal and political way, causing (already) a lot of damage. Or Luc Chatel, who moved from L’Oréal to National Education, a “real boss”, as his entourage describes him, who quickly took on education issues. He followed the budgetary constraints set by N Sarkozy. But he knew how to oppose many twisted ideas from the Elysée and leave his mark.
The answer will come with the appointment of his chief of staff. By sending A. Genetet to rue de Grenelle, G. Attal probably wants the “clash of knowledge” and the policy he led at the ministry not to be sold off. Then we will see if a chief of staff or an Attalian chief of staff is installed at the head of the cabinet. This would be the beginning of a cohabitation between the ministry and Matignon which would strengthen the influence of E. Macron.
The right-wing vision of the School
But the most important thing is elsewhere. First in the ideological battle. The majority on which the Barnier government is based, the new union of the right, brings together Macronists and Republicans with the support, behind the screen, of the National Rally. It shares a common conception of the reforms to be carried out in education. Halfway between Macronists and the extreme right, its center of gravity is the law of LR senator Max Brisson, already adopted by the Senate. Emmanuel Macron spoke in favor of autonomous schools with heads recruiting and paying teachers, where the Brisson law wants autonomous public education establishments (EPAE) (first and second degrees) under contract with the State with management holding these powers. Both want a real privatization of public schools on the Anglo-Saxon model. Same agreement on the reform of teacher training, which must be entrusted “to the employer” and not to the university and lead to a special diploma for school teachers. The National Rally recognized itself in these orientations and in those of the “Clash of Knowledge” reproaching G. Attal for taking inspiration from the RN program.
Reforms weighed down by the budget
But the problem is the budget. While the right wing comes to power, it does not have the budgetary capacity to change the situation. The reforms envisaged by the Brisson law are expensive. The remuneration of student teachers and the launch of EPAE require more than a billion. And that now seems out of reach.
The budget ceiling letters are now known. For National Education, the government plans to go from 64.4 to 64.5 billion from 2024 to 2025. This stability actually marks a significant relative decrease in the National Education budget. Indeed, the National Education budget must follow inflation and also the spontaneous evolution of its payroll under the effect of advancements by seniority or promotion. This last effect, the Old Age Technicality Slippage, represents nearly 500 million. National Education is short of about a billion to cover its 2025 expenses in equal format.
This had not escaped N. Belloubet who had the guts to say it on August 27 (well before the late remarks of some of her colleagues). She pointed to an “insufficient” budget that “does not meet all the needs”. “This ceiling would require particular budgetary rigor, especially when we know the impact of the GVT”, she added. Let’s bet that it was this criticism that cost her her job.
Since then, the Court of Auditors has painted an even more alarming budgetary situation for the country, predicting a public deficit of 6% in 2024. The Court estimates that a major effort is needed to rebalance the accounts to at least 50 billion. The ceiling letter for National Education could be revised downwards and even greater savings could be announced soon by a Michel Barbier who pretends to discover it…
On the positive side, this situation puts an end to many of the reforms carried out by E Macron and G Attal. We do not reform National Education when the coffers are empty. The SNU will fall, victim to a report without appeal from the Court of Auditors and a colossal cost (more than 10 billion in the long term and 200 M immediately). The labeling of school textbooks was to be accompanied by their replacement financed in part by the State. We will perhaps do without this expense (around fifty million). The level groups represent 4000 positions or 200 million. It will be tempting to recover them. And to complete the billion by dipping into contract workers and overtime.
Structural reforms announced
Beyond the billion, structural reforms will be needed. And we know that the ground is prepared for this. The Court of Auditors has been thinking about the potential savings in National Education for years. It recalled them again in 2021 and 2023. Its reports inspired the general inspectorates of Finance and National Education in a new report recently published very timely. They examined three avenues. First, change the priority education model to a progressive model. Revert to duplication by raising the threshold according to the objectives of saved positions. They also considered reducing the number of schools and colleges by grouping together, particularly in rural areas. All this would free up thousands of jobs with a definitive structural reform.
Another avenue could concern vocational education. This is entrusted to LR MP Alexandre Portier, who has been appointed Minister Delegate. While the government will probably reverse the very substantial subsidies paid for apprenticeship contracts, these measures should have an effect on vocational high schools. Will the Barnier government want to leave them in the National Education system? Or will we move towards a regionalisation of establishments and, in the long term, of the staff of vocational high schools?
Two pending questions
Two topics are already on the table. The first concerns the use of the reduction in student numbers. The unions are asking for it to be used to reduce the number of students per class. The government may want to “preserve the public education service” and use the reduction in student numbers internally. At the start of the 2025 school year, 86,000 fewer students are expected in primary schools and another 76,000 at the start of the 2026 school year. This means that around 7,000 positions could be recovered. And even reused in secondary schools, as permitted by a decree issued by JM Blanquer. In secondary schools, the reduction is only 10,000 students at the start of the 2025 school year. But it rises to 30,000 at the start of the 2026 school year, enough to free up around 2,000 positions. This means that 10,000 positions could be saved by simple demographic reduction very quickly, or 500 million.
The second topic during this is social diversity in schools. It has been demonstrated, for example by the Cnesco, that this is a way to improve the academic results of the weakest students without lowering those of the strongest. N Vallaud Belkacem had launched initiatives that were shelved by JM BLanquer. Pap Ndiaye had relaunched projects and signed an agreement with Catholic education. N. Belloubet wanted to implement this agreement. What will the new minister’s decision be? If the right leans strongly in favor of private education and has denounced it, it cannot act as if the Vannier Weissberg report had not taken place.
A conflicting ministry?
All these subjects are very political. The Barnier government does not have the political weight that would allow it to open all these projects. If the vision of the School is the same between Macronists and LR, the styles of Barnier and Attal are not the same. The Ministry of National Education could be a place of opposition between these governmental tendencies, especially if Attal imposes his affiliates on rue de Grenelle.
National Education staff could mobilize on the management of the ministry. The prospect of a revaluation will definitely fade away very quickly. Conversely, the working conditions should deteriorate further with a ministerial technostructure having free rein and seeking maximum exploitation of human resources. More than Attal’s permanent agitation, the Barnier government will attack the resources of an institution already at the bone and staff already very disadvantaged.
Francois Jarraud
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