FINANCING

Local authorities are bound by law to provide a number of basic services among which the provision of compulsory education, upper secondary education, pre-primary and child care take a major part. Municipalities are free to use collected taxes and state funding for whatever services and systems are judged to be best for their respective areas. Many municipalities delegate budgets directly to individual schools.

An amount of money is granted and follows each pupil to whatever school they choose, either municipal or independent. A school that receives grants from the municipality is not entitled to collect school fees.

The State, through the Swedish Institute of Special Needs Education, offers pedagogical support for local authorities for the development of pedagogical resources in Special Needs Education. The National Agency of Special Needs Education also offers adaptations of teaching materials for pupils in need of special support. See www.sit.se

Technical aid is accounted for by the regional counties.

Early years education
Child care is financed by locally collected tax revenues, state grants and parental fees.

There are no separate funds for special education. Municipalities decide upon allocations in the same way as for all child care, and parental fees vary. In 1998 the parental fees' average share of the municipal total costs accounted for about 17 per cent.

Pre-primary fees are linked to the family's income and how many hours the child attends pre-primary. From 2001 municipalities can adopt the system of maximum fee. This means that there is a ceiling for pre-school fees at about 1-3 per cent of the family's income, depending on how many children the family has.

Since January 2003, all children of four and five years of age are offered free schooling for at least 525 hours per year. The provision are mandatory for the municipalities, but the children participate on a voluntary basis.

Compulsory education
Municipalities are responsible for educational provision and the education system is financed with locally collected tax revenues. There are no separate state funds for special education. Each school is provided with an amount of money based on the number of pupils of that school and responsible for allocating those means in a way that all individual needs are met.

Many municipalities have resource centres that offer pedagogical support to schools and teachers.

Transition period
Upper secondary education is free of charge. Financial assistance from the State is available for adults attending most post-compulsory school education in the form of personal subsidies and loans.