CORRELATIONS BETWEEN GOVERNMENTAL FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION AND THE AUTONOMY OF ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS IN HUNGARY

Abstract

"Besides state-funded schools, private schools play a role in public education both abroad and in Hungary, however the financial aid they receive from the governmental budget is different from country to country. There are countries where they receive the same amount of support that state-funded institutions get. Whereas there are other private institutions that cannot gain any financial resources from the subsidy. Financial contribution by the government to educational costs, however, always goes together with a restriction of the autonomy of schools by said government. These restrictions may include forcing the exemption of tuition fees or mandating that private schools cannot control the admission of pupils. Moreover, it might convey the restriction of the pedagogical autonomy of alternative private schools according to the educational system’s degree of centralization. The liberal and decentralized Hungarian education system has become centralized again due to the current government’s aspiration of creating an integrated and unified educational policy. In this study, we seek to answer the question of how the financial contribution of the state to the operation of alternative private schools affects their pedagogical autonomy."