Paris, February 26, 2026 – As the 2026 municipal elections in Paris approach, scheduled for March 15 and 22, education stands out as a pivotal issue for Parisian families. The City of Paris plays a significant role in the daily lives of residents through its management of public preschools and elementary schools, after-school services, and local educational policies. These responsibilities include overseeing building maintenance, organizing school meals, funding after-school care, and implementing extracurricular activities.
Key Proposals from Leading Candidates on Education
An overview of the education platforms from the leading mayoral candidates, compiled from official campaign websites, press releases, and media reports, reveals diverse approaches to addressing the city’s educational challenges.
Pierre-Yves Bournazel (Horizons – Backed by Renaissance)
Bournazel’s proposals focus on safety, staff training, and student well-being. Key initiatives include:
- Implementing background checks for after-school activity leaders and staff, with paired supervision systems.
- Systematically installing video surveillance cameras outside schools and middle schools.
- Equipping schools and middle schools with emergency alert buttons connected to police stations.
- Establishing a minimum service for school attendance during strikes.
- Adjusting educational schedules to promote adolescent well-being, such as starting middle school classes at 9 a.m.
- Revamping after-school programs with enhanced staff training (€8 million investment) and formalizing employment contracts for animators.
- Expanding extracurricular hours until 7 p.m. and promoting outdoor activity stays.
- Launching a massive school renovation program and banning smartphones at middle school entrances.
Blandine Chauvel (NPA)
Chauvel’s platform, while generally aligned with national NPA guidelines, emphasizes opposition to austerity measures in education:
- Opposition to staff cuts (8,000 positions eliminated in secondary education since 2017) and class closures (5,000 nationwide).
- Demand for the replacement of absent teachers and opposition to reductions in teaching hours.
- Advocacy for the rehabilitation and improved working conditions of teachers.
- Support for maintaining effective overtime hours to meet student needs.
- Criticism of the increased military budget at the expense of education funding.
Sophia Chikirou (France Insoumise / New Popular Paris)
Chikirou presents detailed proposals aimed at strengthening public education and support services:
- Making school meals free for families with the lowest household quotients and increasing progressive pricing.
- Ensuring support for all children with disabilities by creating specialized inclusion staff and training all educational personnel.
- Guaranteeing a consistent presence of an ATSEM in each preschool classroom and staff trained in hygiene for after-school hours.
- Enhancing school medical services to offer each student an annual health check-up.
- Transforming extracurricular activities into a genuine educational service with permanent activity leaders.
- Stabilizing after-school staff by converting precarious contracts into permanent positions.
- Developing a dedicated professional pathway for after-school staff with enhanced training.
- Expanding free tutoring services and enriching educational, cultural, and sports workshops.
- Upgrading school and sports facilities for better accessibility and convenience.
- Adapting school infrastructure to health and climate challenges by renovating restrooms, improving ventilation, and transforming schoolyards.
- Strengthening partnerships with community and social centers through dedicated governance and multi-year funding.
- Promoting the public education system by limiting municipal support for private schools to legal obligations and increasing transparency of funding.
- Implementing a permanent municipal program for anti-racist education and training municipal staff to address racist situations.
- Creating a municipal inquiry commission to analyze issues within Paris’s extracurricular system, including responsibilities and safety protocols.
- Establishing
