Financing - Czech Republic

Basic and secondary education is free of charge at schools registered by the conditions described in the Act on Education.  The expenditure in connection with education is covered by the national budget. Also additional special needs of pupils are covered by the national budget. 

The financial resources are disseminated by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to the regions according to the actual number of pupils – ‘financial units’.

Regions are obliged to re-distribute the resources including additional budget resources to support education of pupils with special needs to individual schools.

The same principles for financing apply for both special needs and mainstream education.  
Capitation grants are stipulated for individual schools and their activities. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports specifies capitation grants as recommended for the calculation of subsidies. The regions receive this recommended amount of funding and are permitted to disseminate these grants to the schools. Financial flows are determined by the responsibilities of the relevant organising bodies. These responsibilities were changed in 2001. Transfer of responsibilities from the state to regions was a gradual one.