Formentera has renewed its commitment to finally unite the two buildings of CEIP Mestre Lluís Andreu, but the families who have been campaigning for the project for years are demanding something more concrete than another announcement.

The president of the Consell de Formentera, Óscar Portas, says the island institution expects to take an important step towards the unification project during the third quarter of 2026.

The announcement came as the new 2026-27 school year began on the island, but also just one day after the school's parents' association, the APIMA, publicly revived its long-standing demand for the centre to become a single integrated school.

The project has been discussed for decades and has repeatedly been presented as a future priority. Families now want to see physical progress rather than another promise.

A School Divided by a Public Road

CEIP Mestre Lluís Andreu in Sant Francesc de Formentera currently operates in two separate buildings located on opposite sides of Avenida Porto-salè.

As a result, a public road physically passes through the school campus.

The two educational centres were integrated in 1995, but the buildings have remained separated ever since.

For the school community, the arrangement creates an unusual situation in which a street effectively divides a single primary school into two parts.

The proposed solution is to close the relevant section of Avenida Porto-salè and create a unified educational area allowing the school to function as one campus.

Endesa Infrastructure Is the Latest Obstacle

Portas says the immediate obstacle to the project is an electricity support structure belonging to the distribution network.

According to the Consell, the removal of this structure is necessary before work to unite the two parts of the school can proceed.

The issue was discussed during a meeting between representatives of the Consell de Formentera and Endesa.

Following that meeting, both sides agreed that the intervention should be treated as a priority, with the aim of speeding up the removal of the electricity support and allowing the project to progress.

Portas described the agreement as a concrete step towards unlocking the project.

Portas Says Progress Could Come This Quarter

During the official opening of the 2026-27 school year in Formentera, Portas said the Consell hopes to make significant progress during the current quarter.

The president presented the unification of Mestre Lluís Andreu as one of the Consell's priority education infrastructure projects.

He said the meeting with Endesa had addressed one of the technical issues preventing the next stage of the project and that there is now a commitment to prioritise its resolution.

However, the announcement does not mean that construction work has begun.

The immediate objective is to remove the infrastructure obstacle and continue advancing the project.

Families Say They Have Heard Promises Before

The APIMA has welcomed attention to the project but argues that the latest announcement needs to be followed by visible action.

The parents' association says the demand for unification has existed for more than 30 years.

It points specifically to a series of previous commitments, studies and announcements that have not yet resulted in the physical transformation of the school.

For families, the issue is therefore not simply whether the project remains a government priority. They want to see deadlines, works and a clear path towards completion.

The Campaign Dates Back to 2018

The current project is not new.

In 2018, the APIMA submitted the proposal to unite the school through the Consell de Formentera's Participatory Budgets.

The proposal envisaged closing Avenida Porto-salè and creating a common space connecting the two sides of the school.

The initiative reflected the school community's desire to eliminate the physical division created by the road and allow the centre to operate as a single educational environment.

The project subsequently remained on the political and administrative agenda.

The Pandemic Interrupted Earlier Plans

In 2020, there was discussion about moving forward with the unification.

The COVID-19 pandemic then disrupted the planning process and effectively put the project on hold.

The school community later revived its campaign as attention returned to the island's educational infrastructure needs.

The repeated restarting of the project has contributed to frustration among families who have watched several planning cycles pass without the final works being carried out.

The Project Was Revived Again in 2024

In 2024, authorities again announced the preparation of the project and expressed an intention to move towards construction.

The unification was also included in the Balearic Government's 2024-2034 Education Infrastructure Plan.

Under that plan, the comprehensive renovation of Mestre Lluís Andreu was identified as a short-term priority, with the eventual unification of the two buildings also included in the longer-term infrastructure programme.

The inclusion in the regional plan gave the project an official place within the Balearic Government's broader education investment strategy.

A Commitment Was Also Made in 2025

The APIMA says that in 2025 the Balearic Government announced a commitment to begin the unification before the end of the current legislative term.

The parents' association subsequently requested meetings with the Territorial Directorate of Education and with the Consell de Formentera to discuss how the project would progress.

According to the APIMA, those meetings did not take place.

That lack of direct communication is one of the reasons families are now pressing authorities for more concrete information.

Another Complication: The Road's Heritage Status

The electricity infrastructure is not the only issue surrounding the project.

The school says it has been informed by the education authorities that closing Avenida Porto-salè also involves a planning complication because the road forms the end of a route classified as a Bien de Interés Cultural, or BIC.

That heritage status could affect how the closure and redevelopment of the space can legally be carried out.

The issue adds another layer of administrative complexity to what might otherwise appear to be a relatively straightforward project involving the closure of a road.

Tests Were Promised for the Summer

According to the APIMA, authorities had indicated that tests would be carried out during July 2026 to assess the possibility of closing the avenue.

Those tests did not take place.

By September, the parents' association said it had seen no material progress on the proposed closure.

This is one of the main reasons for the APIMA's insistence that the latest announcement needs to be followed by action.

The families are not simply asking for the project to remain on the agenda. They want the preparatory work to actually begin.

Portas Points to Other Education Projects

Portas has presented the school unification as part of a wider effort by the Consell to improve educational infrastructure under its responsibility.

He also pointed to the Refugi de la Mola project, which is already at the tender stage.

The president said the Consell wants to continue improving the facilities used by children across the island and to address projects that Formentera has been waiting for for many years.

The regional government is simultaneously advancing other education projects, including the expansion of IES Marc Ferrer.

Formentera Begins the School Year With 1,238 Students

The latest developments come as 1,238 pupils return to school across Formentera for the 2026-27 academic year.

The island's school infrastructure is therefore once again under close attention as children and staff begin the new school year.

Portas used the opening ceremony to thank the education authorities for their investments in Formentera and highlighted measures intended to address the difficulty of attracting and retaining teachers on the island.

Among them is a €400 monthly supplement for teachers working in Formentera, designed to compensate for the additional costs associated with island living and improve staff stability.

The Teacher Retention Challenge

Formentera's geographical isolation creates particular difficulties when recruiting professionals.

The additional €400 monthly allowance has been welcomed by Portas as a way of making the island more attractive to teachers and encouraging them to remain in their posts.

The measure forms part of the wider discussion about educational equality between the smaller island and larger parts of the Balearic Islands.

Portas stressed that living in Formentera should not mean children having fewer educational opportunities.

A Project That Has Become Symbolic

The Mestre Lluís Andreu unification has become more than an infrastructure proposal.

For the school community, the fact that a public road still separates two parts of a single educational centre decades after the schools were integrated has become a symbol of how slowly some public projects can move.

Each new announcement raises expectations, but also frustration among families who remember previous commitments.

That history explains why the APIMA has been particularly vocal about the difference between planning and delivery.

Why Closing Avenida Porto-salè Matters

The proposed road closure is not simply about convenience.

The intention is to create a coherent school environment in which pupils can move between the different areas of the centre without a public road running through the middle.

It would also create a larger common outdoor area and allow the two buildings to function as one educational campus.

For the school community, that would fundamentally change how the centre operates on a daily basis.

A Technical Problem With a Political Dimension

The latest obstacle involving Endesa illustrates how public infrastructure projects can become dependent on factors outside the direct control of a local authority.

The Consell can promote the school project, but it cannot simply remove electricity infrastructure belonging to the distribution network without coordination with the operator.

The agreement to prioritise the intervention is therefore significant because it could remove one of the practical barriers to progressing the scheme.

At the same time, it is only one step in a process that still involves planning, heritage and infrastructure considerations.

Families Want a Clear Timetable

The APIMA's position is straightforward: after years of announcements, it wants a clearly defined path to implementation.

The association wants authorities to move from plans and declarations to practical measures that can be seen on the ground.

For families, the fact that July testing did not take place despite previous announcements has reinforced concerns about further delays.

They are therefore watching the next few months closely.

The Next Test Will Be Action

Portas says the Consell hopes to make a major move forward during the third quarter of 2026.

The immediate test will be whether the agreement with Endesa leads to the removal of the electricity support structure and whether the other administrative issues can then be addressed.

If that happens, the project would enter a more concrete phase.

For the APIMA, however, the real measure of progress will be physical work rather than another political commitment.

After More Than 30 Years, Formentera Wants One School

The central demand from the Mestre Lluís Andreu community has remained remarkably consistent since the 1995 integration of the two schools.

Parents want the centre to function as a single school rather than two buildings divided by Avenida Porto-salè.

The project has appeared in participatory budgets, infrastructure plans and government commitments, yet the physical separation remains.

Now, the Consell says it has identified and prioritised one of the obstacles preventing the project from moving forward.

That may be an important step, but for families who have spent years waiting, the real breakthrough will come when the plans finally turn into visible changes at the school.

Formentera has heard another promise of progress. The APIMA is making clear that the next chapter needs to be about construction, not announcements.