The day before, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine at which the principles of developing new mechanisms for financing education in Ukraine in conditions of decentralization were discussed.

The meeting was attended by First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Inna Sovsun, Head of the Education Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine Andriy Bondarenko, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture, education experts, and representatives of the public.

According to the First Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Inna Sovsun, with the introduction of the educational subsidy, radical changes are taking place in the financing of schools, that is, the educational subsidy is transferred from the State budget to regional, district budgets, and the budgets of territorial communities.

"The priority of education reform is to provide children with quality education. An important step on this path is the development of a formula for funding education in the regions," Inna Sovsun said.

European experts were involved in the discussion, who, with their experience in financing education in their countries, should help to carry out quality reform of education in Ukraine.

Ian Gerchynskyi noted that the main task for the Ministry of Education and Culture is the harmonization of education reform with the process of decentralization, as well as its clearly structured financing. Therefore, experts believe that decentralization should be implemented gradually, provided that the Ministry and regional state administrations of education are in good contact.

According to the fact that every year the difference in the quality of education between the city and the village grows, it is necessary to look for optimal ways to ensure the same high level of education throughout Ukraine, Pavlo Khobzei emphasized. He also noted that this is a complex and at the same time responsible process, but, in his opinion, the country will not be able to become a competitive European state without it.

Tony Levitas, an expert at SKL International, noted that the process of decentralization of education should take place in the form of a nationwide discussion. He noted that the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, which previously funded education, should work together to find the optimal formula for subvention distribution.

According to Tony Levitas, subventions should be distributed taking into account the level of education, features of the geographical location of educational institutions, criteria of social groups (national minorities, children with special needs, etc.).