What is a self-financed public school? How is it different from a regular school?

Vang Anh Kindergarten, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City during school hours

Vang Anh Kindergarten, District 5 is a public school. In the project proposed to collect public opinions on the model of this public school when it is converted to a financially autonomous public school, the fee for preschool children is 7,870,000 VND/month. For children of nursery age, when applying the model of a financially autonomous public preschool, the total amount to be paid will be less.

The representative of the Board of Directors of Vang Anh Kindergarten, District 5 said: "The above amount is not only tuition, but also a package of all the fees collected in a month, including tuition, breakfast, lunch, drinking water, boarding service fees, fees for participating in classes according to the project, fees for organizing foreign language classes..." And the collection level of 7,870,000 VND/preschooler/month is calculated to cover expenses, based on the number of teachers, seniority of teachers, number of students in the school...

What types of self-financed public schools are there?

A financially autonomous public school is a school that is responsible for its own revenues and expenditures on the principle of sufficient revenue to cover expenditures, within the framework prescribed by law.

Financial autonomy can be partial financial autonomy or complete financial autonomy (100% financial autonomy) as stipulated in Decree 43/2006/ND-CP of the Government; Decree 16/2015/ND-CP of the Government; Decree 60/2021/ND-CP of the Government regulating the financial autonomy mechanism of public service units.

An education official said that 100% financial autonomy means that the school no longer receives state budget and collects and spends on its own based on the principle of collecting enough to cover expenses. The People's Committees of districts will decide which units will implement this model.

Ho Chi Minh City has a number of public schools that are 100% financially autonomous. At the preschool level, the city has Nam Sai Gon Kindergarten in District 7. This is the first fully financially autonomous public kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, this is the only public kindergarten in the city that is 100% financially autonomous.

Nam Sai Gon Kindergarten, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City - the first public kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh City with 100% financial autonomy

What are the advantages and challenges of financially autonomous public schools?

In December 2023, in an interview with Thanh Nien Newspaper, Ms. Le Thi Xuan Thuong, Principal of Nam Sai Gon Kindergarten, assessed that the model of a fully financially autonomous public kindergarten has advantages and sets high requirements. The model helps schools proactively calculate finances, ensure sufficient revenue to cover expenses, and always ensure benefits for employees and retain good teachers and employees.

The model of complete financial autonomy requires the school's staff, teachers and employees to make efforts to gain parents' trust, satisfaction and attract parents.

Ms. Thuong said that the school always publicly discloses the income and expenditure to parents, the legal basis, so that parents can see that the fees paid for their children at this school are completely reasonable, in accordance with the legal basis and the costs parents pay for their children are commensurate with the quality of training. To do this, professional activities at Nam Sai Gon Kindergarten, District 7 must be improved, the educational plan must be clear so that parents can see that their choice for their children to study at this school is correct.

Part of the children's playground in Nam Sai Gon Kindergarten, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City

So why did the story of Vang Anh Kindergarten, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City asking for opinions on switching to a financially autonomous public school model cause a stir among many people, and most parents who were surveyed did not agree? The results from the school showed that only 16 out of 236 parents asked agreed; 5 out of 78 officials in District 5 agreed.

An education official said that when public schools become financially autonomous, there should be a step-by-step roadmap, possibly increasing tuition fees by 20% each year instead of being completely autonomous right away, which would shock parents and make many people disagree. This person also said that if they were a parent and were asked to increase such fees because of 100% financial autonomy, they would also choose the "disagree" box.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/truong-cong-lap-tu-chu-tai-chinh-la-gi-khac-gi-voi-truong-thuong-185240422151101707.htm