Financing Decentralized Education in Macedonia

Abstract

The present report provides a review of the financing of Macedonian education as the country comes close to completing the first phase of decentralization. Soon all municipalities will find themselves in the second phase of decentralization, so the natural question is, what has been accomplished and what should be the next steps. Is decentralization complete, and if not, what remains to be done.

A more specific technical question concerns the financing of decentralized education in Macedonia, and in particular the functioning of per student allocation formulas, in use since 2006. Properly managed and updated, allocation formulas may be a strong policy instrument of the Government.

Keywords: Education finance, education decentralization, Macedonia

JEL Classification: H52, H75