Abstract:

One of the key aspects of providing modern and quality education in schools and other educational institutions is investing a sufficient amount of funds for their material, technical, personnel and other equipment. Pre-primary, primary and secondary education are crucial here, as these are more general forms of education and every single person has to go through these stages in their lives. At the same time, these levels of education are not provided by the state directly, but through one of the components of public administration - self-government. As part of the delegated performance of state administration, municipalities and higher territorial units (as self-government entities) are the recipients of state subsidies, grants and transfers, through which they finance activities related to education that are within their competence. The current situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic has been reflected in almost all areas of human life, including education. Due to reduced revenues, the state, municipalities, but also higher territorial units had to reduce their expenditures in various areas in order to ensure the fulfillment of their basic tasks arising from generally binding legislation. Due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic also affected the form of education (which largely transformed from full-time to distance), there may have been a change in the amount of funding for education compared to the previous period. The paper deals with the assessment of the financing of education before and during the period of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis on pre-primary, primary and secondary education. The aim of the paper is to reveal the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financing of education, and thus on a key aspect of regional development and the development of society. The results of the contribution will be determined by the public administration entities that contribute to the financing of education in order to adjust the financing of education so that the amount of funds does not depend on any unforeseen situations.

Keywords:

Education, COVID-19, financing.