While KLIK and the school districts are legally independent and equal budgetary bodies, "KLIK has in practice established an operational management and approval system for which it had neither legal authorisation nor professional justification."

On issues regarding IT, financial matters and donations, regional school districts’ decisions were slowed by unjustified central approval requirements, the report said. 

"The investigation found this was not an isolated practice but a deliberate management policy, reinforced by the KLIK’s own work plans," the statement said.

The report describes this process as a "re-KLIK-ification", as the same excessive centralisation elements that had previously caused the failure of the KLIK system reappeared in its operation.

Meanwhile, centralisation did not lead to more efficient operations, the statement said.

The financial management of regional education offices did not become more transparent, operating costs continued to rise and institutional renovations and maintenance were neglected, it said.

KLIK also failed to establish adequate control mechanisms in either its own operations or the oversight of school districts’ financial management, increasing financial and integrity risks, it added.

The investigation also found that the current system did not provide sufficient autonomy for institutions and school districts, with schools’ operations burdened by unnecessary administrative loads, while nationwide issues such as a significant shortage of teachers, delayed infrastructure developments and increasing operational problems were not adddressed, the statement said.

"This centralised system led not to the development but to the decline of education," the statement said.

Currently, 60 school districts maintain 2,130 public education institutions with 5,002 service locations. These institutions are responsible for the upbringing and education of 698,497 children and students, with more than 82,000 teachers providing instruction.

Based on the report’s findings, the government decided to restructure KLIK’s operations. In the medium term, the current overly centralised task allocation system will cease, regional education management will be transformed and the tendering process for regional education leaders will begin soon, it said.

"The government’s goal is for education management in the future to serve data-based decision-making, child-centred 21st-century education and the professional autonomy of institutions. The transformations will create a simpler, faster and more transparent operation in which schools have more professional flexibility and regional education offices can focus on their genuine maintenance tasks," the ministry said.

Magyar pledges 'complete overhaul' of education administration

The government has decided to "completely overhaul the education administration", Prime Minister Peter Magyar said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

In future, the leaders of school districts will be selected in open bids, Magyar said, adding that the first ones will be put out on Aug. 20, and "as opposed to the earlier practice" local mayors will be involved in the selection process. The new directors will be appointed for five years, he said.

"We want school districts to be managed by people who earning trust through their professional programmes, real management ideas and proven results," Magyar said.

He added that school operator KLIK would be maintained but "with a different role", continuing as a background institution supporting research and education. The administration of education will be directly controlled by the ministry, he said.

The prime minister said that the overhaul will be "in fact much more than just another institutional reshuffle."

"We want chemistry classes to be taught by chemistry teachers. Schools should have special needs teachers if necessary; buying one or two laptops or a projector should not take months, bathrooms should not be renewed by parents, and teachers should work without fear and teach in line with their professional conviction," he said.

In the new system, "decisions will be made closer to schools, and leaders will have a clear mandate and real room for manoeuvre, while teachers should have more time and energy … to teach and support children, and help them find their talents", he said.

Magyar noted that currently there are thousands of vacant positions in education, adding that "the situation would even be more serious if several thousand teachers were not working past retirement age."

In 2025 alone, school districts needed an injection of 27 billion forints (EUR 74.6m) to pay for schools' utility bills, Magyar said. 

"While schools were not allowed to decide over expenditures as little as one million forints, supervisors were only notified retroactively after reallocations of billions of forints to other fields have already been completed."

Meanwhile, under the previous government, "teachers were dismissed just because they spoke up and stood for themselves, on instruction from district leaders who had been appointed without a public bid and for an open term," he said.

Bence Retvari, parliamentary group leader of the opposition Christian Democrats (KDNP), said the overhaul announced by the prime minister would "eliminate the remaining autonomy of school districts".

In a video message on Facebook, Retvari said school districts had previously operated under a professional central body but would now fall under the direct control of the education and child affairs ministry.

He said greater autonomy had been promised to school districts, along with the transfer of school maintenance rights to local councils.

Instead, he insisted, the government was centralising control "under a minister who has previously declared war on small-town schools and religious schools".

"This is not more freedom, it's greater centralisation," he said.

Retvari also slammed the plan to dismiss school district leaders, calling it an example of the ruling Tisza Party's "collective punishment approach".

MTI Stock Photo

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

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