Xavier Bertrand, president of the Hauts-de-France region, said, "I consider the high school students in the region as my children. I do not want any of them to sleep in a moldy room or take a shower in a moldy shower." It is the morning of October 5, and Bertrand has just suspended the plenary session of the regional council. He leaves the chamber to meet with high school students who have come to express their anger in front of the regional headquarters. The elected officials are voting on this day on the orientations and the amount of the global operating grant (DGF) for 2027. This is the money that allows, among other things, public high schools to maintain and operate their buildings, as well as to ensure students an environment conducive to academic success. "We have been demanding the same things for years. The only option we are offered is an application that would allow us to report what is wrong in our high schools. It is not our responsibility to report the problems," said Soan Rauch, a first-year general high school student, after the meeting with the regional executive. The age of the high schools is at the heart of the anger. Too cold in the winter, too hot in the summer. Mold on the walls and windows. Unreliable internet connections. A lack of ventilation that makes students and teachers sick at the slightest virus circulating. A recurring shortage of teaching materials. "It is a sum of small things that are not functioning properly," said Catherine, a language teacher met earlier in the morning in front of Faidherbe high school, where she has taught for sixteen years. "There comes a moment when it is no longer possible to say 'it's not serious.' We just want to work." In this context, the Hauts-de-France region has detailed its orientations for the DGF 2027. That is the money it plans to allocate to the institutions.