Educational financing in Argentine legislation: the responsibilities and functions assigned to local governments

Abstract

This article was carried out within the framework of the Seminar “Theories and Methods of Economics, Financing and management of educational resources” of the Master’s Degree in Educational Policy and Management at UNLu. The current regulations of the Argentinian educational system are analyzed regarding educational financing and the roles attributed to the national, provincial and
municipal levels of government. To this respect, the significant budget allocated to education that guided the educational legislation of the 2000s in our country -within the framework of economic growth and the expansion of compulsory schooling- assigned new responsibilities and functions to local governments, based on the modification in the distribution of funds from the provinces to the municipalities in 2013 and the consequent modification of the implementation and execution of these resources in programs and projects linked to Education, Science and Technology. The information available from the district of Zárate (Buenos Aires) is taken to make an approach to the role of the municipalities regarding financing and new responsibilities, and to explore to what extent this results -or not- in real improvements in schooling conditions and in greater citizen participation.