Possibilities and restrictions on use of the public-private partnership in the education sector in Poland

Abstract

The availability and level of educational services determine the levels of social inequalities and socio-economic development. Budget constraints and a lack of expertise in providing infrastructure, service and management of schools encourage public authorities to cooperate with the private sector. The aim of the paper is to identify the possibilities and barriers to the wider use of the public-private partnership (PPP) in educational investments in Poland. An analysis of the state and local government budgets in the sections ‘Education and upbringing’ and ‘Educational care’ shows a growing gap between the inflows from the educational part of the subsidy and the expenses incurred by local government units, in particular municipalities and the largest cities. Furthermore, the huge investment needs resulting from the use of facilities and equipment as well as school adaptations are covered by local governments. The overview of the PPP contracts concluded in the years 2009–2019, published in the project database www.ppp.gov.pl and BIP leads to the conclusions that pioneer PPP projects in education are the domain of municipalities and concern small infrastructure projects, mainly improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Many announcements on the Polish market do not find an investor, which results from the weakness of local private capital and lack of support from banks. On the advanced PPP markets there is a wide spectrum of contracts for the provision of services and infrastructure delivery models. The subject of PPP may be the construction of greenfield sites as well as modernization of brownfield sites and entire school complexes, combined with their funding and maintenance under the conditions specified in the contract. Service contracts range from technical support and catering to school management, and rarely concern basic services.