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The Financial Gap Arising from the Local Government’s Educational Tasks and the Sustainable Development of Communes in Poland

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  • Magdalena Wojarska

    (Department of Economic Policy, The Faculty of Economics, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-726 Olsztyn, Poland)

Abstract

In Poland, responsibility for educational tasks has mainly been delegated to local governments, although the state still plays a decisive role. Municipalities finance these tasks using educational subsidies and targeted grants from the central budget. Because transfers from the state budget cover an ever-decreasing share of the costs of educational tasks, municipalities increasingly need to engage their own resources. Such a situation (due to the limited funds of these units) poses a threat to the proper implementation of other tasks, which may ultimately negatively affect their sustainable development. This study aimed to determine the impact of the financial gap from implementing educational tasks on the sustainable development of communes and cities with county rights. The research primarily employed linear ordering methods and Spearman’s rho correlation. It also employed the nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test and the Page test for trends. This study utilized two types of data: secondary data from Statistics Poland covering 2477 municipalities and primary data collected through a survey of 482 local government representatives. The correlation analysis revealed that sustainable development indicators decreased as the financial gap widened between 2012 and 2022. The highest correlation coefficients were observed in all communes combined and in cities with county rights. The weakest correlations between the financial gap and sustainable development were found in urban municipalities. Representatives of local governments had similar observations. According to 63.1% of respondents, the imbalance between funds transferred from the state budget for educational tasks and the expenditure incurred by the municipality for this purpose negatively affects the sustainable development of local governments.

Suggested Citation

  • Magdalena Wojarska, 2024. "The Financial Gap Arising from the Local Government’s Educational Tasks and the Sustainable Development of Communes in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-21, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:22:p:10073-:d:1524067
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Janina Kotlinska & Joanna Nucinska & Jacek Bednarz, 2021. "Education Financing: Explaining the Expenditure Concentration Gap between the State and Local Governments in Poland 2008-2019," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 564-578.
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