A Pressure to Co-operate or Close: Public Education Management in the Ranks of Multifunctional Local Government Associations

Abstract

The first part of the paper discusses the factors that increased the pressure on rural municipalities in service delivery particularly in provisioning public education (demographic decline, diminishing state subsidies). The second part of the article deals with some aspects of public services provided by the so-called multi-functional local government associations (MLGA) at LAU-1 (micro-regional) level. Regional differences generated by the variety of settlement patterns of the NUTS-2 regions as well as the impacts of the MLGA-s are discussed in detail. The sharp drop of schools run by villages signals the losers of the impacts of the 2004 Act on MLGAs and other government interventions, whilst the winners are identified as well: joint operation of schools by maintenance associations redoubled between 2004 and 2008, MLGAs themselves also appeared amongst the educational service providers, whilst the role of NGOs and churches in operating village schools grew significantly as well. The author is convinced about the importance of co-operation in delivering public services particularly in areas of scattered and small villages. However, she warns that the fast and pressed school closures as well as the forced creation of associations on extended territories amongst faraway partners might bring negative outcomes therefore a gradual, tolerant and place-tailored approach should be applied.