New school financing methodology comes into effect on January 1

The country’s over 1,400 education institutions will switch from 1 January 2013 to a new financing methodology based on the principle “the money follows the pupil”. According to authorities, the formula will allow to improve the quality of teaching in schools by distributing public funds fairly and allotting them according to the needs of each pupil. The methodology was tested in pilot projects in the districts of Riscani and Causeni, Info-Prim Neo reports. Victoria Catanoi, coordinator of the project “Quality education in rural environment”, told a seminar that the new financing methodology will provide the managers of education institutions with the possibility to administer their own budget, to make decisions on how to use the money to ensure quality education. “The new method of allotting money consists of two components. The first is funding “per pupil”, so that 6282 lei would be allotted for each pupil in 2013. Moreover, the schools and lyceums with more than 91 pupils will receive an additional 386,755 lei, the so-called ‘per institution’ component, calculated by district councils”, said Victoria Catanoi. The financing formula will be applied for primary and secondary education institutions: primary school-kindergartens, primary schools, gymnasia and lyceums. The formula covers current expenses, with the exception of expenses for food, for the groups for mandatory preparation of children for school, for capital repairs (except for capital investments). “In the first year, we fund 100% of the institutions’ needs, in the second 50% and in the third year they must be fully funded by the local public administration. The transition period will end in 2015, when there will be no more money transfers and schools will work on the basis of financing plans developed in advance”, said Victoria Catanoi. At the same time, the specialist says that smaller schools will have bigger expenses and their directors have two years to develop a plan for reducing expenses. Otherwise, after the two years, the institutions will have to deal with their financial issues on their own. Victoria Catanoi said that small schools are deemed general schools with 41 pupils and gymnasia with 91 pupils. Despite the small number of pupils, these schools cannot be closed if there is no other similar school (with the same grades, the same teaching language and free places) in a range of 10-15 km. The methodology was applied as an experiment in 2010, then in 2012, in 518 schools in 9 districts.