The Social Democrats are challenging the Liberals with sharp proposals in parliament to ban profits in free schools, testing if the party's turnaround is serious. Leader Magdalena Andersson invites collaboration across the political divide. The Liberals recently proposed phasing out profit-driven free schools.
The Social Democrats are exerting strong pressure on the Liberals by presenting proposals in parliament's education committee. A key proposal is to ban profit-driven joint-stock companies in schools. The aim is to challenge the new party leader Simona Mohamsson and determine if the Liberals' position is genuine or political maneuvering.
Magdalena Andersson, S leader, comments: "They have ended up in the wrong camp if they seriously mean that we should do something about the fact that Sweden has a school system that does not work due to the major market failure. Simona Mohamsson is welcome to collaborate with me and other parties that have driven this for a long time."
The Liberals have recently shifted their stance and want to ban profit interests in schools, including phasing out free schools run as joint-stock companies and converting them to forms without profit requirements. This is a new position for the party, which has previously been more market-liberal.
Anders Ygeman (S), vice chair of the education committee, describes the Liberals' previous proposals as "mirages" that dissolve upon closer inspection. "Now the Liberals get a chance to prove that this proposal is not a mirage," he says. On concerns about school closures, Ygeman responds: "I say that their school will become better if the money does not disappear from the classroom and is instead run with the students' best in mind, and not the shareholders'."
Simona Mohamsson's response will be heard in Sunday evening's Agenda on SVT.