Updated information about the supervision case 2012-2014
PUTTING A POINT. Trond Botnen, who took over as general manager at Metis upper secondary school, Bergen Private Gymnas and CEO of Metis Education AS at the end of 2014, is happy to soon be able to put the 8-year-old requirement behind him. – We have changed our practice already in 2015; so this old requirement will have no impact on current school operations, says Botnen.
Published: 07.12.2020
To students and guardians at Bergen Private Gymnas and Metis High School:
The old repayment requirement will have no impact on students, employees, or school operations going forward.
Following inspections at the schools for the years 2012-2014, Metis High School and Bergen Private Gymnas have now received the second part of the final inspection report from the Norwegian Directorate of Education. We have been waiting for this report for over 5 years and are pleased that it is now coming so that the schools can soon put an end to this 8-year-old inspection case.
There are no significant changes to the conclusion in the final report compared to the preliminary report from 2019. Each of the schools must repay 0.9% of the state aid for these three years – which amounts to 2.4 million for Metis High School and 2.1 million for BPG. The repayment requirement is as the schools have long envisioned and will have no impact on school operations going forward. School owner Metis Education AS will handle the repayment requirement and transfer the money to the schools.
Although schools will not incur costs related to the requirement, such cases can easily lead to unvarnished media coverage and political statements from small parties that are fundamentally against private schools. Therefore, we want to inform students and parents in an open and orderly manner through this letter.
The schools are well run, very popular and have solid owners. At the same time, the schools have long been aware that there would be such a repayment requirement for the years 2012-14 and the undersigned has informed about this at the parent meetings at the start of school. The schools will also request a generous and interest-free repayment plan for the requirement from the directorate – such as we received for the first part of the requirement (interest-free repayment over 3 years). The schools have also made an agreement with the bank and the school owners so that the repayment requirement will not have an impact on the school's finances. The following is therefore important to note regarding the repayment requirement:
The repayment will have no impact on school operations in the current school year or in the years to come – neither for Metis High School nor BPG.
The requirement has no effect on the schools' students.
The requirement has no effect on school employees.
The requirement will have no effect on the several thousand who have applied for a place at the schools this fall.
No increase in tuition fees for students as a result of the repayment requirement
The requirement is 6-8 years old and not representative of current school operations (after 2014).
The background to the refund claim
In 2011, the Directorate inspected the schools and concluded that the schools had to repay 10% of the state aid for that year. The repayment requirement mainly concerned the market price for the premises that the schools rented from Metis Education AS. Metis Education AS is the school owner and parent company of the Metis Group. Metis Education AS rented the premises from the landlord and subleased them to the schools in line with the schools' needs and at what was considered to be the market price.
In 2011, it was not possible for each individual school to obtain financing for new Mac computers for its students on its own. These had to be purchased before the start of school – before it was known how many students had chosen to start at the individual school and which in turn formed the basis for the state support it was allocated for the relevant school year. The state support is based on a count of students, which is not to be done until October 1. At that time, 9 years ago, no one wanted to assist the schools with financing computers for their students. Metis Education AS was then part-owner of Akademiet Holding AS – which owned a number of Akademiet schools throughout the country. The financing problem was solved by Akademiet Holding AS negotiating a purchase agreement with a supplier; which Metis Education AS could also take part in. By using economies of scale, Akademiet Holding AS also obtained good quantity discounts related to the purchase of computers. Through the discounts from Akademiet Holding AS, Metis Education AS was then able to provide computers collectively for both of the two upper secondary schools in Bergen. As the owner of several schools and as a company that also operated other income-generating activities than the two state-funded upper secondary schools, Metis Education AS obtained a loan from the bank to purchase the computers. The schools chose to lease these computers from Metis Education AS at what was considered market price.
The Directorate, for its part, believed that the schools had paid above market prices for both rent and computer leasing. The inspection case for 2011 has been concluded and the schools have long since settled the repayment claim from that time.
But why is there a repayment requirement also for the years 2012-14 when the schools already received a requirement after the 2011 inspection?
The challenge for the schools is that the processing of the 2011 inspection took a long time with the authorities. The Ministry of Education and Science only issued its final conclusion after the 2011 inspection on 19 December 2014. This meant that the schools did not have the opportunity to change their practices or negotiate new rental agreements or computer leasing agreements for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. A combined inspection for these three years therefore resulted, as expected, in a new repayment requirement also for the years 2012-14 – in line with the 2011 inspection. The schools immediately changed their practices and, as of 2015, we have adapted to the content of the 2011 inspection.
Major changes and adjustments from 2015
Since the 2011 inspection report was published on 19 December 2014, several changes have been made. The undersigned has taken over as general manager of Bergen Private Gymnas and Metis Upper Secondary School, as well as CEO of the parent company Metis Education AS. The schools have also received new boards consisting exclusively of external persons with no connection to the schools.
While the schools were part of the Akademiet school chain in the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 – from which the repayment claims originate – we have withdrawn from the Akademiet chain after the 2011 inspection. One of our two upper secondary schools has also changed its name from Akademiet to Metis upper secondary school. As of 2015, we have also aligned ourselves in line with the inspection from the Directorate for 2011. This was also reported to the Directorate in January 2015.
The way forward
In 2019, the schools reviewed the preliminary inspection report and provided a response to the directorate. Here, the schools pointed out a number of factual errors in the directorate's preliminary report and argued for the schools' understanding of market prices 6-8 years back in time - during the period to which the inspection applies. Through the preliminary report, the schools were also made aware of an error made between the schools and the parent company related to a leasing deposit for the Macbook computers. Here, the parent company immediately returned this amount to the schools in 2019 when the preliminary inspection report came. This final inspection report does not contain any significant changes from the preliminary inspection report that came in 2019. The schools will now consider whether this final report should be brought forward to the Ministry of Education - which will review the case again independently of the directorate. This process could take close to a year. The final repayment requirement will probably not be in place until 2021 – with a possible repayment scheme starting in 2022 (if a similar repayment scheme is granted as for the first part of the inspection). In any case, this inspection report will have no impact on everyday life at the two schools. School life continues as usual for both students and teachers – while the school management and board continue to handle this inspection report.
About the schools
Finally, I would like to add that our schools continue to have various inspections in addition to the two above under the auspices of the directorate. The schools always come out very well and we take pride in following all laws and regulations as well as delivering good quality teaching and a good school environment for our students. This focus on having skilled teachers and a good learning environment has led to Metis High School and Bergen Private Gymnnas having experienced tremendous growth since their inception in 2004. Today, the schools have a total of 1,115 students and 2-3 applicants for each school place. The schools have a completion rate of over 98% and are two of the city's most popular high schools - whether one compares with other private schools or the public ones. The admission process for the next school year is just getting started for both Metis High School and Bergen Private Gymnas. Applications have already started to flow in and we have great faith that the coming school year will also be headed for record-high application numbers for both schools.
We have also recently extended our lease agreements with the landlord – initially until 2032 – which means that we can continue to develop our two upper secondary schools on Lars Hilles gate in the middle of Bergen city centre for many years to come.
Hope this was useful and clarifying information.
If you have any questions, just contact the school administration.