The Danish government will set aside 500 million kroner through 2030 to help financially pressured rural municipalities avoid closing functioning public schools.
Economy and Interior Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr of the Socialist People’s Party announced the plan in an interview with the news agency Ritzau. Her account was reported by DR on September 23, 2026.
According to the minister, the distance to the nearest school is growing in many parts of the country. She pointed in particular to rural districts, where municipal finances are under strain. The money is intended as support so that well-functioning schools do not have to close.
Per Olsen Dyhr, the funding will be directed at municipalities where falling populations and fewer pupils put local schools under pressure. She said she cannot put a number on how many schools the half billion kroner may save.
The sums required will differ from place to place, the minister told Ritzau. In some municipalities, 10 million kroner may be needed to keep a school open. In others, the figure could be 5 million kroner.
The amounts also depend on how many pupils a school has and on local geographic challenges, according to Olsen Dyhr. Municipalities will still decide whether a school has enough pupils and an adequate academic level to continue.
339 schools closed since 2007
Between 2007 and 2025, a total of 339 public primary schools were closed in Denmark, DR reports. Smaller schools in rural districts were hit hardest.
Low-income families have experienced school closures three times more often than high-income families. That finding comes from an analysis by the Economic Council of the Labour Movement, known in Danish as Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd. The analysis is based on register data from Statistics Denmark and from Folkeskolen.dk.
Olsen Dyhr said municipalities should still assess the pupil base and the academic standard at each school. But finances alone should not be the reason a school shuts, she stressed. The government wants families in rural districts to have a public school nearby.
The initiative arrives as the government prepares the coming finance bill, which is to fund the pool of money. DR notes that work on the distribution model is still under way. The minister expects municipalities will be able to apply for grants from the fund.
Public schools in Denmark are run by the country’s 98 municipalities, which decide on openings and closures locally. National debate over school policy has also touched on testing, including 14 mandatory school tests introduced in recent years.
Population shifts have widened the gap between the capital and the rest of the country, a pattern also visible in rural Denmark’s housing market. No figure has yet been published for how the 500 million kroner will be split between municipalities.
