The Unequal Reality of Public Spending on Labor Claims Against Local Education Services in Chile

Original article: La desigual realidad en materia de gastos o despilfarros públicos por demandas laborales hacia los SLEP By Leonardo Guerrero Campos, Philosophy Professor “The essence of political freedom depends not on the fanatics of justice, but on the invigorating and beneficial effects of dissenters. If freedom becomes a privilege, the essence of political freedom is broken. ” – Rosa Luxemburg.

As critical citizens of «Chilean education,» we will follow the path paved by Rosa Luxemburg and assert that public educational policy freedom is not a privilege for the few, but rather the invigorating and beneficial sum of dissenters. Therefore, in light of the calls for integrity and responsibility in discussions about public institutions, particularly with the Pinochetism firmly established at La Moneda under the mendacious and malevolent President Kast 1 at the helm of the State of Chile, we will expand our reflection on public spending concerning labor claims, now including all Local Education Services (SLEP) in Chile that are operational to date. From this point, we will address the question: How many financial resources have been lost due to labor claims across all SLEP in Chile since their implementation?

That is, we will aim to clarify the data via www. transparencia. cl to highlight those who are genuinely engaging in constructive dialogue with their workers, technicians, and professionals in the field of public “de-education,” contrasting them with those who merely defend their own interests as poor employers through labor courts, thereby cultivating hostile work environments in public schools.

This negativity undermines the pedagogical labor of those educating, and often compromises the integrity of those trying to teach the most vulnerable in our unequal national society. Such was the case for the recently deceased teacher in Calama: María Victoria Reyes, aged 59, murdered by one of her students. The answers to the various inquiries posed with the same question yielded multifaceted and paradoxical data, which can be interpreted through concrete evidence without prejudging anyone.

The information provided by each of the SLEP throughout Chile via transparency, invoking Law 20. 285 on access to information, exposes a key fact as glaring as the numerous international abuses committed by the Trump administration: indeed, there is no single criterion for providing this type of response. Curious, isn’t it?

Now, I will begin the analysis of data derived from the diverse educational realities that differ markedly. We could say that the responses are as varied as the characters in Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s novels. It is imperative and necessary, as Kant would advise, to broaden our reflective horizon at the outset, as we will interact with various “public institutions” that govern Chile’s public education system, and the most curious or paradoxical aspect of this current citizen and social analysis exercise is that each response was processed according to the requirements set by the aforementioned law concerning public information access.

However, each response was diametrically opposed in some cases and even responded poorly. The questioning is thus exposed and evident in such a scenario. The question remains: Why such multiplicity of interpretations for a straightforward query?

The factors are undoubtedly diverse: location, style of administration, differing interpretations of the law, and even the use of public resources invested in pure public education or otherwise. Notwithstanding, we will proceed with the data: The inquiry made was the following: I need to know how many economic resources have been lost from the fiscal coffers concerning labor claims, that is, how much has been lost due to labor claims in the SLEP? The total number of consulted SLEP is 36.

Of these, only 26 provided concrete responses. To make this information clearer, we will graphically present the financial losses of each, clarifying who generates the most expenditure for the treasury, defending incompetence or simple noncompliance with labor law versus those that have not incurred excessive expenses concerning labor claims. It is crucial to reiterate that the data will speak, not the prejudices of anyone.

Indeed, let us observe in the current graphic which SLEP have incurred the highest losses concerning labor claims: The displayed graph highlights two key points. Firstly, the SLEP with the highest labor claim expenses are, first, the SLEP Huasco with an economic loss of $117,244,494 pesos due to labor claims; and second, the SLEP Gabriela Mistral with $88,220,528 pesos in losses from labor claims. In third place, distancing from the two prominent figures, is SLEP Los Libertadores with $34,374,500 pesos in labor claims expenses; fourth, SLEP Costa Araucanía with $34,298,110 pesos in similar labor claims expenses; and fifth, SLEP Andalién Sur with $31,151,703 pesos in economic losses from labor claims.

Closing the list, in sixth place, is SLEP Iquique with $20,967,735 pesos in labor claims losses. The second point revealed by the graph is that the remaining SLEP show $0 expenditure on labor claims, which indicates that they have not faced legal conflicts in this regard and hence no economic losses have occurred. Congratulations to them for their commendable performance, at least for now.

If we total all losses related to labor claims, the overall figure amounts to $326,248,070 pesos that have been drained from the national coffers due to the incompetence of those administering public education poorly. Services Lacking Information Here we must clarify that the graph only includes the SLEP that provided us with information. The SLEP Atacama and SLEP Magallanes directed us to labor courts and refused to provide direct information.

Meanwhile, the SLEP Barrancas, Chinchorro, Colchagua, Llanquihue, Puerto Cordillera, and Valparaíso claim to misunderstand the question and thus do not respond to our request. On their part, the SLEP Puelche and Del Pino acknowledge receipt of the question and promise to send information, yet they never reply and as of the publication of this article, have not answered our inquiry. Suspicious to say the least, as our dear companion Bombo Fica might say.

Moreover, we received information from various sources within the SLEP of Huasco, who lead in the graph concerning labor abuses against their workers and economic losses to the treasury. This information clearly disclosed that this educational entity incurs substantial costs for judicial services from “DAVIU ESTUDIO JURÍDICO SPA,” located in Copiapó, due to a high workload in this area. In other words, apart from racking up high losses from adverse labor claims, they also incur additional costs (billed receipts we accessed from 2025, totaling $21,100,000) for external attorneys, fulfilling judicial requirements stemming from their own recklessness.

Is this a common practice? That is to say, with a legal department existing within the SLEP, is it necessary to contract external services for tasks that should fall within that department’s mandate? This is a valid and responsible question, considering that public resources should benefit all Chileans.

Would it not be better to allocate these resources to improve infrastructure or hire specialist teachers who are undoubtedly needed in the Atacama region? Ideally, yes, but professionalism seems to lag in those northern airs. It is truly unfortunate that the executive director of such a local public education service prioritizes the use of state resources to rectify their labor mistakes instead of enhancing student education.

It is to be hoped that María Paz Arzola, the current Minister of Education under the lackluster President Kast, who holds a commercial engineering degree from PUC, will crunch the numbers and reveal the incompetence of some executive directors. Though upon further thought, perhaps they remain in their positions to assert, with arguments this time, that Chilean education is in a state of constant emergency. For once, they might tell the truth.

Leonardo Guerrero Campos 1 See “Contemporary History of Chile II: Authors, Identity and Movement,” by Gabriel Salazar and Julio Pinto, from pages 46 to 52. What does this mean? Due to our State’s and market’s insistence on the history of our political leadership.

Those who come to power on the promise of a better life, but- as will be the case for Kast- are a punishment for the working class and a blemish on the history of human rights in Chile. We must consider that when the pinochetista ruling class takes power, Law 21. 040 risks being repealed, initiating the dismantling of the SLEP across an indifferent and forgetful Chile, where they will witness how the “malevolent president Kast” reduces a state they rhetorically claim to be in crisis, when we are the most stable economy in South America.

The reason for that fascist double discourse is as clear as the US intervention in Cuba and Venezuela’s policies, in other words, they want to sell us a political product that isn’t honest and the worst is that a large part of the country voted for it. On March 11, 2026, the most pinochetista and dictatorial government since the return to our worn-out democracy assumed power. After one month, we already see increases, and the social explosion is surely around the corner.