Key problems of allocation of education responsibilities

Jan HerczyńskiSKL Project

„Support to Decentralization in Ukraine”Kiev, April 24, 2015

Decentralization of education

• As Ukraine approaches far-reaching decentralization of education, key decisions need to be taken regarding which level of local administration should be assigned the responsibility for managing and financing which types of schools

• These decisions are important not only for education, but also for future development and functioning of Ukrainian local governments

Simple formulation of the problem

The simplest formulation of the problem is the following: • A list of all education institutions should be

identified• A list of all levels of local governments in

Ukraine should be identified• Each education institution should be assigned

to a specific level of governance

Education institutions

The following list represents the most important education institutions:• Preschools, • Initial schools (1-4), • Basic schools (1-9)• Full secondary schools• Vocational and professional schools

Levels of local government

However, the identification of levels of local governments is very difficult, due to ongoing territorial-administrative reforms:• Rural councils (over 12 thousand)• Rayons (about 500)• Cities of oblast significance (about 115)• Oblasts (25)

Basic principles

The following principle are often stated as the basis for allocation of responsibilities: • The territory of administration unit

responsible for a specific function should correspond to the area of service provision

• The administrative unit responsible for a specific function should have the capacities, human resources and budget required for that function

How to apply these principles?

In Ukraine, application of both principles encounters problems: • As the types of schools range between 1-5 and

1-11, their area of service may be quite different,

• Rural councils are very small, very weak and are considered incompetent

• Rayons and oblasts are not real local governments

Solution of the Budget Code

These problems were addressed in the amendments to Budget Code in December 2014:• Both preschools and schools are financed

froim rayon budget• If rural councils amalgamet to created „unified

gromadas”, they can take over education functions

Solution of the Budget Code 2

This is a highly pragmatic and workable solution: • Rayon education departments, although not

real local government offices, have the experience, information and capacities to manage schools,

• Education subvention is sent directly to their budgets

• Open way for further decentralization in the future

Solution of the Budget Code 3

However, solution of the Budget Code are also problematic: • Preschools are managed by administrative

unit much larger that area of service provision• Vocational andf professional schools have

remained at oblast level• Further territorial-adiministrative reforms may

change the situation radically

Main areas of uncertainty

• Not known how many consolidated gromadas will be created or what will be their legal and budget situation

• Not know how many rayons will be consolidated or what will be their legal and budget situation

• Not known if changes to Constitution will make rayons into real local governments

Options of new Law on Education

General assumptions:• We should not trust that gromadas will quickly

become larger, stronger local govervnments• Future consolidation of rayons is not very likely• Rayons will become real local governmentsTherefore the new Law on Education should assume that current structure of local governance will in general remain

Options for new Law on Education 2

Therefore it seems reasonable to propose:• Preschools should be managed and financed by

rayons, with an option to delegate them to stronger gromadas

• General secondary schools should be managed and financed by rayons

• Most education institutions managed and financed by oblasts (including PTU) should be moved to rayon level

Options for new Law on Education 3

This proposal has clear weaknesses:• It assignes almost all education functions to

one level of governance– But: other two levels of governance are even less

suitable for education• Preschools are managed by too large units– But: proper gromadas still do not exist

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Thank you for your attention!