Secondary schools are to get an extra €200m over the coming four years and school heads, teachers and parents are being allowed to decide how best to spend it, the Volkskrant says on Thursday.

Junior education minister Marja van Bijsterveldt is to publish details about the extra funding shortly, says the paper. The aim is to improve standards.
The schools will not need to apply for the additional cash – they will all receive a first installment of €56 per pupil in November, followed by between €57 and €60 per student in June for the next three years.
The secondary schools’ association (VO-raad) is ‘pleasantly surprised’ with the new funding reports the Volkskrant. Chairman Sjoerd Slagter is particularly pleased that schools themselves can determine how the money is spent: ‘Usually the ministry imposes guidelines,’ he told the paper.
‘Schools must have the freedom to decide themselves which issues are the most important for them. But they can only do that with extra money. And now they are getting it,’ Slagter is reported as saying.
Van Bijsterveldt expects schools to give priority to improving language and arithmetic skills, the paper says.
The €200m is on top of extra funding already allocated to the education sector for social internships (€250m), combating drop out rates (€193m), free text books (€300m) and higher teaching salaries (almost €1bn).