Effectiveness assessment of the implementation of educational tasks in selected cities in Poland

Abstract

Cities with county rights allocate every third PLN spent from the budget to finance education. These significant public outlays justify the question about their efficiency (the quantity/quality measures of educational tasks in relation to budgetary expenditures on education) and effectiveness (the level of educational effects achieved compared to the assumed goals). The article aims to identify measures of the educational tasks’ effects and to evaluate the effectiveness of these tasks for Szczecin, Gdańsk, Lublin and Rzeszów. The evaluation is based on the reports on the implementation of the budgets (2012–2016) and educational tasks (school years 2012/2013–2016/2017) in the mentioned cities, results of external examinations and statistical yearbooks. The results of critical source analysis, case studies and comparative analysis are presented in tables, charts and diagrams, as well as descriptive. The research approach adopted by the Authors takes into account the principles of performance budgeting, in particular: effective and efficient spending of public funds. The conducted analysis reveales a diversified scope of information on the educational effects, published by the examined cities in descriptive reports on the implementation of their budgets and educational tasks. The results obtained indicate a low priority assigned by local authorities to measuring the effectiveness of the state’s education policy goals. Local governments feel responsible primarily for ensuring the conditions required by law to provide public education for their community, while the responsibility for the educational results is entirely attributed to the central administration (defining and supervising curricula and pedagogical work of schools) and the participants themselves.