PEOPLE’S PETITION · SIGN NOW
Hamburg school petition: Your signature counts now.
Hamburg’s draft double budget for 2027/2028 would make deep changes to established school structures. The people’s petition calls for no cutbacks at the expense of Hamburg’s schoolchildren. For the formal petition procedure, your personal signature on paper is what counts.
SIGN NOW
Sign in four steps
For the formal Hamburg people’s petition, only your personal signature on paper counts. Signing online does not replace it.
Important: Completed sheets must be returned as originals. According to the form, they should arrive no later than 6 November 2026.
- 1Download the PDF
Open the petition form and print it on paper.
- 2Sign personally
Enter first and last name, date of birth, Hamburg address, date and signature.
- 3Collect more signatures
Pass sheets on in your family, neighbourhood, school, association or workplace.
- 4Return the original
Do not email it: send the paper sheet to the return address stated on the form.
ONLINE PETITION · ADDITIONAL
Support online — but do not forget the paper form
The Change.org petition is an additional public signal. The formal Hamburg people’s petition still requires a personal signature on paper.
IN BRIEF
What is the people’s petition about?
The Hamburg people’s petition opposes planned cutbacks at schools. This website focuses on the planned GTS all-day-school change affecting 87 schools or primary departments, changes to school support, and further measures affecting Gymnasium schools and other school types.
87 schools · around 26,000 children
are affected by the planned GTS change from preschool through grade 4.
10 teacher hours → 0
Per calculated all-day group, the teacher component is to be removed while the educator allocation rises from 34.0% to 62.4% of a position.
€16.5m per year
has been cited as the intended saving. A detailed published calculation of that figure is not yet available.
10,000 signatures
are required. For the formal procedure the signature must be on paper; the form states a return deadline of 6 November 2026.
Sources: GTS statement, 6 Oct 2026 · Facts & primary sources · Official information on people’s petitions
WHY THE PETITION MATTERS NOW
Established educational structures are to be dismantled for comparatively small savings.
Our submission to the public hearing concludes that the planned GTS change is not merely a technical financing adjustment. It changes learning time, support, courses and cooperation between professions.
ASSESSMENT
Cutting all-day education is a political choice — not a financial necessity.
According to our statement, the expected €16.5 million saving equals 2.75% of the Senate’s consolidation target. At the same time, the education and family authority’s budget grows by around €416 million in 2027. We therefore call for different priorities.
SUBMISSION TO THE PUBLIC HEARING
What we believe should determine this debate
Research does not provide a simple formula saying “GTS is better” or “GBS is better”. Precisely for that reason, the claim that more money for GTS produces no better results is not a sound basis for dismantling existing structures.
Keep structured educational support
The elements that are set to disappear are precisely those for which research tends to find more favourable evidence: structured support, learning time with teachers and additional rather than replacement staff. Findings on homework supervision by other staff are mixed to unfavourable.
Cuts hit many disadvantaged locations
Affected GTS schools are disproportionately often in difficult social contexts. There is still no school-by-school impact assessment for the 87 schools.
Do not dismantle positively assessed structures blindly
Hamburg’s school inspectorate rates the all-day provision of the inspected GTS schools almost universally positively. This does not prove a causal advantage of the model — but it argues against dismantling it without an impact assessment first.
Our six core demands
- Keep existing GTS schools with their current resources.
- Keep the separate honorarium allocation.
- Examine alternative financing based on ability to pay.
- Agree binding quality standards for integrated all-day education.
- Require impact assessment and participation before future changes.
- Publish the calculation behind €16.5m and the underlying staffing figures.
DOCUMENTED
What is planned to change
Per calculated all-day group, the current allocation combines teacher time, a share of an educator position and honorarium funding. Under the draft budget, the allocation for preschool to grade 4 is to be provided entirely in the educator profession.
Current allocation per group
10 teacher hours per week
34.0% of an educator position
300 honorarium hours
Planned new formula
teacher component removed
62.4% of an educator position
separate honorarium allocation removed
GTS
GTS: The school itself organises the all-day programme. Teachers, educators and honorarium staff work as a team; lessons, learning time, support and activities are integrated across the day.
GBS
GBS: An external youth welfare provider organises the afternoon in cooperation with the school; morning lessons and afternoon care are organisationally separate.
Source: Draft Budget 2027/2028, Individual Plan 3.1, Annex 1, p. 301; comparison with Budget 2025/2026, p. 225.
AFFECTED SCHOOLS
Is my school affected?
The analysis covers 72 GTS primary schools and 15 primary departments of combined primary/secondary schools. Search by school name or district.
Enter a school name or district. The results list is filtered as you type.
87 schools in the list.
Select a school from the results to see a compact note.
Show all 87 schools
Source: analysis in the background paper dated 14 Sept 2026.
NOT ONLY ALL-DAY EDUCATION
The savings package also affects Gymnasium schools and other school types.
The measures differ by school type. The people’s petition focuses specifically on GTS and school support, but the draft budget contains further changes affecting schools across Hamburg.
School leaders warn of cuts to support, choices and school life
In an open letter dated 6 October, the Association of Heads of Hamburg Gymnasiums and Study Seminars warns against the planned resource cuts. It cites support programmes, gifted education, foreign languages, profile options and the substitute-teacher reserve, among other areas.
Further information letters from the education authority
Hamburg’s General Staff Council publishes the school-type-specific information letters from the authority concerning the 2027/2028 draft budget.
- Cross-school information, 7 July 2026 ↗
- Primary schools ↗
- District schools (Stadtteilschulen) ↗
- ReBBZ and special schools ↗
- Vocational schools / HIBB ↗
Important: The criticism in the Gymnasium leaders’ open letter and the authority’s official information letters are different sources. They are therefore shown separately here.
EVERYDAY SCHOOL LIFE
What is documented — and what is inferred?
The page now distinguishes explicitly between documented changes, assessments derived from them, and points that remain open for individual schools.
Learning time & support
Teacher hours are currently used, among other things, for learning time, diagnostics, small-group support and double staffing. The teacher component in the all-day allocation is to be removed.
Courses & activities
Separate honorarium funding currently supports activities such as music, workshops, science, student newspapers and additional sports. In the displayed 2028/29 allocation there is no separate amount for this funding.
Integrated daily schedule
If teachers can no longer be financed from this allocation in the afternoon, integrating lessons, practice, support and activities may become more difficult. The extent depends on each school’s organisation.
Lunch time & relationships
According to its own calculation, Ganztagsgrundschule Sternschanze uses 35 teacher hours for lunch-time presence. How other schools organise comparable tasks is school-specific.
Families
The background paper concludes that learning time, courses and cover may need to be absorbed more strongly outside the existing resources. It explicitly labels these effects as the authors’ conclusions.
Social context
According to the updated analysis, 48% of GTS schools with a known social index are in social-index categories 1 or 2; among other Hamburg primary schools it is 18%. This describes the social context of school locations, not the effect on an individual school.
THE IMAGE BEHIND THE IDEA
Three strands, one rope
Teachers, educational professionals and external instructors work together in the GTS model. The graphic illustrates the current professional mix and the planned change from 1 p.m. onwards.
Show text alternative for the infographic
The infographic shows the school day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the current GTS model, teachers, educational professionals and external instructors work together. Until 1 p.m. the basic school allocation applies; after that, the all-day allocation is used. Under the planned change for preschool classes through grade 4, the allocation after 1 p.m. would be provided only in the educator profession; the teacher component and the separate honorarium allocation would be removed.
TIMELINE
What happens when
After the public hearing, the decisive phase now runs up to the budget decision. The formal people’s petition has a concrete return deadline.
The Senate adopts the draft double budget for 2027/2028.
The Budget Committee considers the draft.
According to NDR, the Schools Committee decides to hold public hearings on school support and all-day schools.
The public hearing on GTS all-day education took place at City Hall. Our written statement is now available in the media centre.
Return deadline for the people’s petition: completed signature sheets must be returned as originals.
The Hamburg Parliament is expected to decide on the 2027/2028 double budget.
Schools plan staffing, courses and concepts for 2027/2028.
Change for preschool classes and grades 1 and 2.
Change for grades 3 and 4.
TRANSPARENCY
What we know — and what we do not claim
The allocation formula, timetable, 87 schools and orders of magnitude come from the budget documents, parliamentary papers and datasets cited in the background paper.
Statements about possible effects on learning time, courses, the integrated schedule or families are labelled as assessments or conclusions where they do not follow directly from the budget figures.
For most individual schools, the background paper contains no school-specific impact calculation. The school search therefore does not invent individual figures.
OTHER INITIATIVES
The issue is also being addressed elsewhere
According to the analysis used on this website, the planned GTS change affects 87 schools and around 26,000 children. In addition to this website and the petitions linked here, there are other independent information and action initiatives concerning Hamburg's all-day schools.
Another initiative on Hamburg's all-day schools
Another independent website addresses the planned changes to Hamburg's all-day school system.
Open external initiative (opens in a new tab)The linked site is operated independently from this website. Its operator is responsible for its content and privacy practices.
Schools and parent representatives are also discussing the issue
Schools, parent representatives and associations are publishing information and statements about the planned changes. External offers are marked as additional sources of information on this website.
Go to media coverage and further sourcesTAKE PART
Act now: sign, collect, share
Until the petition return deadline, the most important action is a personal signature on paper. Information, sharing and conversations at schools also help.
1. Sign
Print the petition form and sign it personally.
→2. Collect
Ask more Hamburg residents to add their signatures.
→3. Share
Distribute the PDF and website through parent councils, classes, staff and networks.
→4. Inform
Use the statement, facts and original documents in conversations and committees.
→Eight questions to discuss with your school
EXPLAINED BRIEFLY
Frequently asked questions about the planned GTS changes
What is an all-day school under the framework concept (GTS)?
A GTS is organised by the school itself. Teachers, educators and external instructors work as a team; lessons, learning time, support and activities are scheduled in an integrated rhythm throughout the day.
What is planned to change in the all-day allocation?
Per all-day group, the current allocation of 10 teacher hours per week and the dedicated allocation of 300 honorarium hours are planned to be removed. The share of an educator position rises from 34.0% to 62.4%.
Which year groups are affected?
The change affects pre-school classes (VSK) and grades 1 to 4. The planned date is 1 August 2027 for VSK and grades 1 and 2, and 1 August 2028 for grades 3 and 4.
How many schools and children are affected?
The analysis used on this website covers 87 schools and around 26,000 children in pre-school classes (VSK) through grade 4.
What applies to grades 5 and 6?
According to the underlying documents, the professional mix remains in place for grades 5 and 6. The change described here concerns pre-school classes (VSK) through grade 4.
Where can newsrooms find structured information?
The Media centre provides press contact details, press releases, images, factbooks and the school list as a CSV file.
FOR NEWSROOMS
Media centre
Hearing statement, open letter from Gymnasium school leaders, press releases, images, factbooks, raw data and further documents are collected in one place.
Go to media centrePRESS & TELEVISION
Media coverage of the issue
Several Hamburg media outlets have reported on the planned change to the all-day allocation. The following summaries reflect the respective coverage and link directly to the original reports.
NDR TELEVISION · HAMBURG JOURNAL · 27 AUG 2026
All-day schools: education authority plans savings
The roughly three-minute television report comes from Ganztagsgrundschule Sternschanze. NDR describes the planned shift from teacher resources to educator resources and shows criticism voiced by parents at the school.
According to the ARD Mediathek, the report is available until 27 August 2028.
The video is loaded only after you click. This establishes a connection to the ARD Mediathek.
NDR · 12.07.2026
All-day schools: criticism of the education authority’s plans
NDR explains the GTS model and reports both the criticism from the all-day school association and the education authority’s position that special educational concepts would remain possible.
Read the NDR report ↗ (opens in a new tab)HAMBURGER MORGENPOST · 28.07.2026
All-day school without teachers? Further cuts planned at schools
MOPO reports on the planned change to the staffing mix in all-day provision and addresses concerns that teachers could be used far less in the afternoon.
Open the MOPO report ↗ (opens in a new tab)HAMBURGER ABENDBLATT · 28.08.2026
All-day primary schools: why the established model is under threat
The Abendblatt reports on the planned removal of teacher resources from the all-day programme and concerns about a structural redesign of the GTS model. Its reporting refers to 220 teacher positions.
Open the Abendblatt report ↗ (opens in a new tab)TAZ · 17.09.2026
All-day school soon entirely without teachers
taz reports on 87 affected all-day schools and a joint appeal by 54 school leadership teams. The article describes specific effects at individual schools and also presents the education senator’s position.
Read the taz report ↗ (opens in a new tab)NDR · 25 SEP 2026 · LATEST DEVELOPMENT
Education Committee approves public hearings on cuts
According to NDR, the Hamburg Parliament’s Education Committee unanimously approved public hearings on changes to school assistance and all-day schools. Parents, children, teachers and other affected people are to have an opportunity to speak.
Read the latest NDR report ↗ (opens in a new tab)Linked media coverage last updated: 25 September 2026. Headlines and key statements are attributed to the respective media reports; further assessments are those of the editorial teams.