The measures form part of the draft 2027 budget approved by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet.
Under the proposals, staffing would be reduced by 4,925 teaching positions and 2,049 administrative, technical and auxiliary posts from the 2027–2028 academic year.
The reductions, totalling 6,974 positions, would follow earlier cuts introduced under the 2025 budget.
According to the budget’s technical assessment, the new measures are expected to save approximately €83.9 million in 2027 and €251.7 million annually from 2028.
The proposed reductions have not yet become law and remain subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
Nevertheless, they have opened a wider debate about how Italy should adapt its public services to a population that is ageing while producing fewer children.
Fewer children, fewer classrooms
Italy has one of the lowest fertility rates in Europe, a demographic problem that has developed over several decades.
According to figures published by the national statistics institute, Istat, the country recorded 355,772 births in 2025, a decline of 3.8 per cent compared with the previous year.
The average number of children per woman fell to 1.14, from 1.18 in 2024.
The longer-term figures are more revealing.
Italy recorded more than 576,000 births in 2008. By 2025, annual births had declined by approximately 38 per cent.
The latest demographic statistics show that the trend continued during the first seven months of 2026, although the rate of decline slowed.
The consequences are already affecting education.
Official figures indicate that primary and secondary school enrolment fell from approximately 8.4 million pupils in 2017–2018 to 7.7 million in 2024–2025.
Fewer pupils create pressure to reorganise school networks, particularly in areas where the population is shrinking.
However, the distribution of demographic decline is uneven.
Northern regions have generally benefited more from migration and economic activity, while southern Italy has experienced prolonged population losses.
Schools in smaller communities may therefore face reductions in enrolment that are much more severe than the national average.
Closing or consolidating schools in such areas can increase travel requirements and reduce access to local education.
Teachers challenge the government’s calculations
Education unions have questioned whether lower pupil numbers should automatically lead to proportional reductions in staff.
Their argument is that declining enrolment offers an opportunity to reduce class sizes, provide additional individual support and improve educational outcomes.
The proposals follow earlier reductions of 5,660 teaching positions and 2,174 non-teaching posts approved under the 2025 budget.
Taken together, the measures would reduce planned school staffing by 14,808 positions over three academic years, according to union calculations.
The reaction from Italian education unions has been strongly negative, with representatives preparing possible industrial action.
The FLC CGIL union is already expected to participate in a strike on 20 November.
School administrators have also expressed concern about the consequences for educational standards and the ability of institutions to maintain services.
However, the staffing figures refer to positions scheduled for removal from authorised staffing levels. They should not automatically be interpreted as equivalent numbers of teachers receiving redundancy notices.
The precise consequences for individual schools would depend on recruitment, retirements, staffing allocations and the eventual implementation of the legislation.
Budget pressures complicate education policy
The education proposals must also be considered in the context of Italy’s public finances.
The government is attempting to control expenditure while dealing with high borrowing requirements, European fiscal constraints and increased energy costs.
EU Today has previously examined Meloni’s €26 billion budget and the difficulties facing Italy’s public finances.
The government faces competing demands involving pensions, healthcare, public-sector salaries and investment.
School staffing has become one area in which demographic change offers an opportunity for projected expenditure savings.
Yet the financial benefits must be weighed against the practical effects on education.
A smaller pupil population does not necessarily mean that every school can operate with proportionately fewer teachers.
Special educational needs, rural school provision, language support and variations in local enrolment can all affect staffing requirements.
Likewise, administrative and technical personnel provide services that cannot always be reduced in direct proportion to pupil numbers.
A European problem with Italian consequences
Italy’s experience has implications beyond its own education system.
Falling fertility rates and ageing populations affect public finances, labour markets and the long-term sustainability of welfare arrangements across Europe.
The immediate consequences may first appear in schools, but they eventually extend to the working-age population and the ratio between taxpayers and pensioners.
Italy’s demographic statistics also show the importance of migration.
Although births remain well below deaths, immigration has helped prevent a more substantial decline in the country’s total population.
That creates a difficult political and economic calculation for governments attempting simultaneously to manage immigration, public expenditure and long-term workforce shortages.
The education debate is unfolding amid wider dissatisfaction over living costs and public services.
EU Today has reported on youth demonstrations across European countries, where education funding and economic opportunities have become recurring political concerns.
Italy’s parliament must now consider whether the proposed reductions are an appropriate response to demographic realities.
The broader policy question will remain even if the budget is amended: whether the government should use declining pupil numbers primarily to reduce educational spending or to reorganise schools around smaller classes and different educational requirements.
That decision will influence the quality and accessibility of Italian public education as the country’s demographic decline continues.
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