The share of education from the GDP in Bulgaria over the last five years was 4 per cent in 2001, rose to 4.2 per cent in 2002, rose again to 4.4 per cent in 2003, was 4.3 per cent in 2004 and was 4.3 per cent in the projected 2005 budget.396 This share is less than the average share for the OECD countries (5.6 per cent for 2004).397
Municipal schools are financed through the municipal budgets, which include some funding from the State budget for “delegated activities”. These activities include salaries for school and pre-school teachers and “material maintenance”.398 State schools in Bulgaria are financed from the State budget directly as parts of the budgets of the ministries that operate State schools.399 Each municipal government has a department responsible for education. It has some role in overseeing the distribution of money, but the major role is played by the financial department.
Municipalities are obliged by law to ensure finances for school and pre-school infrastructure maintenance, as well as to contribute to some of the salaries of the teachers in the schools and pre-schools. These are ensured through the local tax-based financing, which contributes to the financing from the State budget. As the municipalities in Bulgaria differ in their abilities to solicit local funds, because of
395 See section 3.3.
396 Sources: Ministry of Finance, Review of the Public Spending: Education – State, Problems and Possibilities, p. 84, and Letter of the Ministry of Finance to the BHC, May 2006 (website accessed on 16 January 2006).
397 Ministry of Finance, Review of the Public Spending: Education – State, Problems and Possibilities, p.
85.
398 See below. The concept of “material maintenance” as applied to the State and municipal educational institutions is clarified by the Council of Ministers’ Ordinance for the State Educational Requirement for the One-Year Maintenance of Children and Students in the State and Municipal Pre-Schools, Schools and Service Units from 19 August 2004, Official Gazette, No. 76, 31 August 2004. According to this ordinance, “the standard for maintenance of one student in the State and municipal schools of general education ensures the means for the creation of conditions for education of the student and for self-preparation” (Art. 4. pt. 2).
399 These include the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
regional disparities in economic development, the shares of the local tax-based financing for municipal education are different in the different municipalities. At the national level the share of the local resources in the total financing per school over the past five years was as follows:
Table A1: Municipal-level education funding (2001–2005) Year Local level education funding as a share of total funding
per school, average across all municipalities (per cent)
2001 54.7 2002 57.8 2003 56.6 2004 58
2005 (planned) 51.8
Source: Ministry of Finance400
The local finances go predominantly towards maintaining the infrastructure of the schools and pre-schools and for financing the pre-schools. Except for State budget funding for one obligatory pre-school year (where it takes place in kindergartens), all other expenses of the pre-schools are covered by the municipality.
The State budget finances, through the municipal budgets, all the expenses of the State schools, including teachers’ salaries, school maintenance and utilities, texts, supplementary materials and supplies, as well as the meals and other expenses of boarding schools. The State budget also finances part of the expenses of the municipal schools. Every year this share is determined by a decision of the Council of Ministers for the standards of financing of activities in the municipalities delegated by the State.
This financial contribution is based on standards for the number of personnel and standards for “material maintenance”. According to Decision No. 21 from 19 January 2006, which sets the standards for 2006, the standard for the number of personnel for students between the first and the eighth grade in the municipal schools at 15 students per classroom was 0.152, with an increase of 0.0074 for each student above that number. The standard for “material maintenance” was 146.50 levs per pupil (€73.25) with an additional 14 levs (€7) if the school is heated with liquid fuel, and a yearly lump sum of 1,820 levs (€910) for schools with fewer than 100 students. The standard for the number of personnel for pre-schools was 0.26 per pupil with an additional 0.065 for the one-year obligatory municipal pre-school. The standard for the “material maintenance” on a per-pupil basis for the one-year obligatory municipal pre-school was
400 Letter of the Ministry of Finance to the BHC, May 2006.
169.40 levs (€86.90).401 Similar standards are set for the different types of special schools, orphanages, social care institutions and other activities “delegated” by the State to the municipalities.
On this basis each year the Law for the State Budget allocates funds for delegated State activities to the municipalities on the basis of certain “natural indicators”. In the Law for the State Budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2006 these indicators as a basis for the subsidy for education were as follows:
• The number of personnel;
• The number of students in the schools;
• The number of students in the service units;
• The number of children in pre-schools.402
In the light of these indicators, and on the basis of the standards, each municipality gets a subsidy from the State budget.
The State subsidy finances the salaries of the teachers and any other personnel, but only on the basis of the per-pupil standards determined by the Government decision. If school directors wish to appoint more personnel, such as a Roma school mediator or an after-class educator, they are expected to fund these positions through municipal sources. Textbooks for the one-year obligatory pre-school and for the first four grades are free of charge. The funds for their purchase are included in the State subsidy for the pre-school as part of the “material maintenance”. From the first to the fourth grade the Ministry of Education and Science buys the textbooks and delivers them to the schools through its Regional Inspectorates of Education.403 All the other textbooks, educational materials and schools supplies are paid for by the parents.
Part of the State subsidy for municipal schools in the form of “material maintenance”
pays school maintenance and utilities. The rest, as well as the investment into school infrastructure, is paid by the municipal tax-based budget. In February 2005 the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy started the programme “a cup of warm milk”, under which it pays for one meal plus a drink for each student of obligatory school age from the first to the fourth grade.
The Regional Inspectorates of Education, municipal governments and school directors, supported by the school educational councils, all have roles in governing the schools in
401 Council of Ministers, Decision No. 21 from 19 January 2006, Annex 2 and 3.
402 Law for the State Budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2006, Official Gazette, No. 105, 29 December 2005.
403 Council of Ministers, Decree No. 104 from 10 May 2003, Official Gazette, No. 76, 31 August 2003.
Bulgaria.404 The Regional Inspectorates of Education are responsible for the fulfilment of the State educational standards. They inspect the system, give recommendations, organise re-educational and supportive activities, and coordinate the activities of the different institutions. Municipal governments ensure the school funding and offer social support to parents and students. The school directors, together with the school educational councils, ensure the fulfilment of the State educational standards in their schools, develop the educational plan and decide on the enrolment, the school educational plan, forms of education, extracurricular activities, school uniforms and other matters.
404 School educational councils consist of all pedagogues in the school. Members of the parents’
boards and medical personnel too can take part in the educational councils as consulting members (Rules and Regulations for the Application of the National Education Act, Art. 151).