The long-awaited reform of Bulgarian secondary education system seems to favour schools in cities at the expense of schools in smaller towns and villages. The reforms started on January 1 2008 when this year’s budget came into force. According to the act adopted by Parliament every year, schools will now adhere to a devolved system that should enable school directors to become managers rather than simply executing Education Ministry directives. The ministry has effectively introduced a “money follows the pupil” type system, meaning that an annual allowance is awarded to each pupil by the ministry. Each school director will receive a budget dependent on the number of pupils in their school. As of January 1 2008, the allowance is 1100 leva a pupil. 

The money, however, will not reach schools directly from the budget. Instead,  the Finance Ministry transfers the money to municipalities that will, in turn, allocate resources to schools in their catchment area.

Legislators have also allowed for the possibility that this money could be insufficient to fund schools. Hence they have given municipalities the right to top up sums when needed – but at their own expense. If a municipality lacks funds to cover all the schools in its area, it could take action to – euphemistically – optimise the school network. This can only mean one thing: closing certain schools or amalgamating their pupils into one unit. To ensure that municipalities manage their budgets correctly, the Budget Act says that this money can only be spent only on education. 

It is a truism that Bulgaria suffers from a demographic crisis. Even President Georgi Purvanov has made the issue a priority. The crisis has led to a marked reduction in the number of pupils at schools, particularly in villages. This has made them an easy target for any cash-starved municipal council wanting to cut expenditure.

A glaring example is a school in Konstantinovo village, near the Black Sea city of Varna. On March 11, about 100 people blocked the road to Varna for 12 hours protesting against the planned closure of the St Kliment Ohridski school in Konstantinovo. The closure is part of Varna municipality’s programme to optimise its school network. At Konstantinovo’s school there are 69 pupils but, according to the programme, this is insufficient to justify the school remaining open.

“We know we don’t have enough pupils. But if it’s a question of money we can support ourselves because the school owns plenty of agricultural land that it leases out,” said Dimitur Kalchev, the school’s director. The school has already merged classes in a bid to optimise its work, he said. Villagers said they were determined to preserve their school and have formed an initiative committee. 

The school’s only option could be inclusion in the list of so-called protected schools. Such a list is compiled by the ministry on information provided by municipalities. It includes keeping certain schools in remote areas open despite a shortage of funds or pupils on the basis that they are indispensable to a particular region and its community. The ministry told The Sofia Echo that it had a list of such schools but would not divulge it.  

Such schools have to meet certain criteria. They must be the only school within a 20km radius and also be in a particularly inaccessible area. Unfortunately for Kalchev, his school does not meet these criteria. It seems as if the rules only benefit schools in mountainous areas in the Rhodope where the population is of Turkish descent.

“Unfortunately, it’s true,” said Roman Bratoev, the director of a school similar to that of Kalchev’s. Bratoev is the headmaster of St Kiril and Metodi school in the village of Marchaevo just outside Sofia, with 65 pupils. Just like the school in Konstantinovo it has been hit hard by the reforms. “I know the list has already been compiled and it has about 80 schools on it,” he said. Its close proximity to Sofia did not help Bratoev’s school gain a place on the list.

“The system is geared towards benefiting larger schools. We simply cannot win this game,” he told The Sofia Echo. “I understand the goal is to optimise the school network because of demographic trends. But what will happen in 10 years when we have more pupils than we can accommodate? You can see the problems in Sofia and other cities due to the current lack of kindergartens.”

Bratoev maintains that the reforms have not yet come into effect. “The system started in January but it took them three months to actually tell us their requirements. I was only given the formula I must use to calculate my budget a week ago.”

So for the first three months of the year, Bratoev has managed the school in ignorance of the budget. “They keep us in the dark. I ask the accountant to keep a daily record of every payment so that, at some point, when we have the final figures I’ll know if I have overspent or undershot the budget. Rules stipulate that if a director exceeds the budget by one 12th he receives a warning. If he does so a second time, he’s fired.” 

Furthermore, the new system has proven to be ineffective in terms of pay rises in the sector. In 2007 teachers went on strike for months, eventually securing an incremental salary increase earlier this year. The ministry seems to have found a solution to its financial problems. It has simply transferred the burden to headmasters. “Any salary increase should technically come from the budget we receive from municipalities. This means that we, as managers, can decide on the scale of the salary increase. However, the ministry has issued an ordinance stipulating that the lowest salary a teacher can earn as of July 1 is 450 leva. So we have to pay teachers at least 450 leva a month from our budget. This is impossible. According to the formula I was given, I can see that my budget will only cover expenses up to September 6. After that there will be no money left. If the municipality doesn’t help us at that point, we’ll be broke.”

Bratoev believes the whole plan was conceived to enable the closure of smaller schools. “I see no other reason. Schools in big cities find it easier to get sponsorships and manage themselves.” Bratoev now faces the possibility of either closing the school or merging with another school in the area.

Relocating a school is a possible third option. This was the case in Varna where, on March 10, yet another protest took place. This time the demonstration centred on plans to move a school across the city. Teachers, parents and pupils protested against the municipality’s plans to move their 5th Language School from the prestigious Chaika borough to a suburban location where another school building is ready and waiting. Currently, the 5th Language School shares a building with the Georgi Sava Rakovski elementary school. Councillors want to separate the schools, hence the decision to move the 5th Language School out of Chaika.

The idea seems reasonable. The move would enable the elementary school to have exclusive run of the building. It would also improve facilities for first, second and third graders. Pupils from the 5th Language School’s pupils, aged between 15 and 19, could easily move to their own building. Furthermore, the elementary school takes care of local pupils while the 5th Language School has children from all parts of the city and neighbouring towns.

Moving from Chaika’s seaside location to a suburb, however, is not particularly attractive to many teachers and parents who fuelled the municipality’s worries by protesting against the decision. They secured a deferral on the decision but the case shows that attempts to change the status quo lead to protests, road blockades and very irate parents. The reforms, presented by Education Minister Daniel Vulchev, were meant to be a modern solution but they have triggered a reactionary backlash.