A new teacher in Madrid earns €2,582.48 gross a month in 14 payments, according to the regional government. It says a €600 monthly rise sought by teachers would add €665 million a year to the education payroll.
Figures presented by regional Education Minister Mercedes Zarzalejo show that a newly qualified teacher in Madrid earns €2,582.48 gross a month in 14 payments. A new secondary-school teacher earns €2,924.79. The government says the €600 monthly rise sought by teachers would add €665 million a year to its public education payroll. A separate estimate puts the cost at €750 million if teachers in publicly funded private schools were included; Madrid has about 68,900 public teaching staff.
Zarzalejo rejected the claim that Madrid teachers are the lowest-paid in Spain. She said their gross salaries rank among the six highest in the regions under the general regime. Pay includes a base salary and a destination supplement set by the state, alongside a specific supplement determined by each region. In Madrid, that specific supplement is €798.41 a month for a teacher. The regional government also cited a primary teacher with 30 years of service, five six-year increments and two average productivity supplements, who can earn €3,865.89 gross monthly.
Experience and additional duties raise the figures. A teacher with two three-year service increments, one six-year increment and two supplements, including for bilingual teaching and tutoring, earns €3,020.66 gross a month. The equivalent secondary-school salary is €3,351.66.
The proposed rise is significant against the department’s budget: personnel costs account for almost half of its nearly €7 billion allocation for 2026, Zarzalejo said, at close to €3.5 billion. The regional government has called the increase unaffordable. CCOO and UGT called teachers’ industrial action in Madrid from 14 October; their demands also include reducing teaching hours and lowering pupil-to-teacher ratios. CSIF and ANPE did not join the strike, according to reporting on the dispute.
The government has also held three meetings with CCOO, UGT, CSIF and ANPE on a horizontal career system. Zarzalejo says it could bring increases of up to €350 a month for eligible teachers. The negotiating table opened on 23 September 2026 to discuss the career structure, separate from the unions’ demand for a universal €600 increase. CCOO missed the latest meeting, which coincided with the education strike.
Outside the pay negotiations, the region plans to begin climate-control and accessibility work at 75 public schools in 2027: 58 regional nursery schools and 17 institutes. Officials are assessing needs across 138 nursery schools and 353 regional public institutes to plan work over the next decade. The first phase prioritizes older centres and those requiring more immediate intervention.
The €840 million plan includes improvements carried out since 2019. Older buildings, those constructed before the 2006 Building Technical Code came into force, are the priority. Planned work includes thermal upgrades to façades and roofs, window replacement and asbestos removal where needed. The programme also envisages solar protection, better-adapted outdoor areas and accessibility improvements. Other measures include replacing obsolete heating and cooling equipment, adding solar power and installing mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. A separate €400 million line through the Regional Investment Programme is intended to support work at municipal education centres, bringing the wider reported investment framework to €1.24 billion.
For the oldest buildings, the estimated average investment is €500,000 per nursery school and €2.5 million per institute. For buildings constructed from 2006 onwards, the averages are €200,000 and €1 million respectively. The additional €400 million may be channelled through future editions of the Regional Investment Programme to help 178 municipalities upgrade more than 800 municipally owned public schools. Zarzalejo says the aim is to complete a full refurbishment of the school estate within ten years.
The region also plans an urgent new School Coexistence and Teacher Authority decree, expected to enter into force in the 2027/28 school year. Schools would have time to adapt their internal rules, while teachers and management teams would receive guidance and training. The proposal is intended to shorten procedures for disciplinary measures and establish a shared minimum catalogue of offences. It would distinguish minor offences from serious ones, with a separate category for very serious offences.
The rules would cover conduct in lessons and extracurricular activities, as well as on school transport, outside school premises and online. Schools could add minor offences to the common framework according to their circumstances and autonomy.
Madrid has also approved family support measures in its birth and adoption grant announcement.
