Change of leadership: why schools are reassigned to regional authorities

Irina Mishina

The bill amends the federal law "On Education in the Russian Federation". Its consideration in the first reading is scheduled for December 6.

Non-regional emergency

After carefully reading the explanatory note to the bill, I could only draw one conclusion: the requirements for schools and school programs are becoming tougher and more uniform. Of course, in the explanatory note to the bill "a lot of bukoff" about "improving the education management system", "increasing responsibility", and also about "ensuring quality work" in order to "create a unified state educational space".

Excuse me, gentlemen, how much more stately?

All programs for the school today are developed at the federal level. All these Federal State Educational Standards, all SANPINS are federal, all the Unified State Examination and the OGE, as well as the VPR, are also developed at the federal level. True, schools retain autonomy at the level of program development ...

Apparently, this law should slam the last window through which dissent could seep into schools. But as recent practice shows, it is in rural schools that it originates. How not to remember the 14-year-old Vadim Teleshev from the village of Lyubov in the Trans-Baikal Territory, who put forward his own version of the events of the war of 1812 and the role of commander Kutuzov in it. More precisely, anti-roles, according to the student. The teenager complained about the "persecution" of the capital's historians, who made loud statements and supported the student. As a result, the local history teacher quit, and the headmistress also got it. However, Nikita Mikhalkov stood up for the teachers of the village school. Commenting on the situation, he said that the teacher has a program that is aimed, among other things, at fostering patriotism and respect for one's history. This resonant conflict has become in some way significant for the fate of rural schools.

There will be no fewer officials

“As you know, rural and ungraded schools are subordinate to the municipality, given their remoteness, transport support and the number of students,” explains Irina Abankina, professor at the Institute for the Development of Education at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. – We now have 30-40 thousand rural schools. Their subordination to the municipality is primarily a matter of property, security, transportation of students, readiness for the school year, general security. Who will support and provide them now? It's far from the city!"

However, in the new law, some teachers in the field, in rural areas, see certain advantages. “In principle, I would support the idea of liquidating district administrations, all these “districts” in some districts. There will be fewer bureaucratic bodies. The local education department often makes recommendations, and this complicates the work. Although formally the director of the school is now under the jurisdiction of the region. But there are also disadvantages. For example, the issues of repair, depreciation of buildings, and economic issues were under the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities. And it was easier to solve this, say, in the village than in the case of access to regional power. The governor is not easy to reach. And not the fact that he will quickly resolve the issue. But in my opinion, all these municipal officials will not leave education anywhere, they will most likely be called differently”, - Dmitry Kazakov, a teacher of history and social studies at a secondary school in the village of Taremskoye, Pavlovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod region, told NI.

By the way, this is not the first attempt to exclude the municipal link from the management of educational institutions. In 2017, at the initiative of Olga Vasilyeva, at that time the Minister of Education and Science, and now the President of the Russian Academy of Education, a pilot project was launched in a number of regions, involving the transfer of authority in school management to the top. The reasoning was the same: reducing the chain of decision-making and building a vertical of power. According to the interim results, 20 regions took part in it.

“An experiment was conducted to reassign schools from municipal to regional government, and its results were studied. As far as I know, in Samara, for example, this did not lead to any revolutionary or at least positive changes”, - Irina Abankina noted.

More control?

Teachers have one question: will funding and salaries change due to innovations? Indeed, lately it has come to paradoxes: in Ugra, teachers at the Yakovlev Urai gymnasium were asked to take sick leave or leave without pay, because the educational institution has no money for salaries for December. In schools in the Nizhny Novgorod region, teachers are forced to take 2-3 positions, teach several subjects at once, in order to receive a salary acceptable for life. What will change the bill submitted to the State Duma?

“This bill is mysterious. But it has one plus: the financing system will become simpler, the process of spending money will be easier to control. In Moscow, all GBOUs are subordinate to the region, and there are no problems with financing. There is certainly more transparency in regional subordination: where how much money is directed, what it is spent on, can be seen immediately. But now the schools have per capita funding, the administration does not pay normal salaries to teachers, as a result, in classes of 40 people or more. At the same time, the school must work clearly on the basis of its budget. In most regions, the growth of teachers' salaries is ensured by an increase in their workload”, - Olga Miryasova, organizing secretary of the Teacher interregional trade union, told NI.

Why was it necessary to resubordinate schools to regional authorities, if this does not fundamentally solve the problems with funding?

“The goal is to increase control by the region over educational standards without any additional funding. The appointment of school directors will be coordinated with the leadership of the region, everything will be stricter. This innovation will not lead to more funding or equipping schools with new equipment, the result seems to be the same: control. The requirements for educational standards will become tougher, supervisory functions will be tougher, and the autonomy of educational institutions will be reduced. But in the end, everyone will turn to the head of the city. From experience, no one will go to the head of the region from the village”, - says Irina Abankina, professor at the Institute for the Development of Education at the Higher School of Economics.

In general, there is no need to wait for an increase in the availability and quality of education in the near future. The Ministry of Education, apparently, will develop strict standards that will be obligated to be unquestioningly implemented in the regions. Doors for any initiatives in schools are closed.