Zurich cantonal government rejects music school law

Although the government supports the idea of promoting music, it considers the additional annual costs of CHF 25 million to be too high, according to its communication. The government council is therefore submitting a counter-proposal to the cantonal council.

The popular initiative "for a music school law" wants children, teenagers and young adults to have secure access to musical education at recognized music schools. In addition to providing a basic musical education, the initiative also demands that cantonal contributions be increased from the current 3 percent to 20 percent of eligible costs in future. This would result in additional annual costs of over CHF 25 million for the canton.

The cantonal government considers music education to be important and attaches great importance to music schools outside of regular school lessons, the cantonal government continues. The government had therefore already submitted a music school law to the cantonal council at the beginning of 2015, but this was not subsequently adopted.

The current counter-proposal, which the government is now presenting, is based on the previous proposal and takes up the central concerns for the promotion of music education, but does not include an increase in the cantonal contribution. In the counter-proposal, the state contribution remains unchanged at 3% of the eligible costs. The Government Council proposes that the Cantonal Council recommend that voters reject the popular initiative "for a music school law" and accept the counter-proposal.