It is necessary to create a system in which sports schools would be given basic funding for all children, but sports schools focused on high achievements would be given additional funding, said Vladimirs Steinberg, director of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM), describing the existing system as “far from ideal”.
In the existing system, both elite groups and not so high-level groups can receive equal amounts of funding. There is also a lack of appropriate control criteria to check the number of children in sports schools, he noted. Although the data entered by the heads of educational institutions are approved by the federations, the ministry has repeatedly found discrepancies.
The new financing model could be introduced from January 1, 2026, predicts Šteinbergs.
The director of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Education and Culture drew attention to the fact that the minimum rate has increased over the past few years, which was funded every year, but not for the growing number of students. According to Steinberg, six new sports schools have arrived this year, which would require 0.5 million euros, but the new schools are financed from the balance.
Professional sports education institutions could submit requests for sports support until mid-November. Steinberg predicted that the existing funding will be enough to satisfy 93-95% of the applications. At the same time, it is currently difficult to judge whether there will be a lack of funding, because the requests are being evaluated, which the ministry has committed to do “very carefully”. If it turns out that the funding at the disposal of the ministry will not be enough, it will have to be found at the government level – Šteinbergs does not see the possibility of finding additional financial resources in the sports budget.
As reported, the board of directors of Latvian sports educational institutions has called on the government and the Saeima to find funding in the next year’s state budget to ensure the full salary of professional sports pedagogues.
In an open letter, the representatives of the association claim that currently the funding reaches an average of 87%, and additional work, such as work on holidays and sports camps, is not paid. The missing difference is covered by municipalities or parents. However, the association predicts that if the support of many municipalities decreases next year, the opportunities to cover the difference will also decrease, as children’s and youth sports will suffer.
Coaches are forced to work two, even three jobs, thus creating both the threat of burnout and health problems, the letter mentions. The association expresses concern that, due to the low salary, fewer and fewer young pedagogues are attracted to the coaching profession, as the profession is not competitive, even compared to sports teachers.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Culture explains that the legal framework for financing vocational sports education programs does not impose an obligation on the state to finance them in full.
Sports schools have the right to receive state funding for the implementation of educational programs. According to the information provided by the Ministry, state funding has been allocated to 84 professionally oriented sports educational institutions, including 66 municipal and 18 private educational institutions.
This year, the total amount of funding for the salary of teachers of professional sports education programs and the mandatory contributions of the state social insurance is 23,405,094 euros. Of these, 2,305,589 euros were allocated for balancing the workload of pedagogues, and 995,961 euros for raising the salary rate from 900 to 1,020 euros.
On the other hand, next year, funding for the salary of pedagogues is planned for 25,397,016 euros, as well as 3,107,400 euros – for increasing the lowest salary rate for pedagogues from 1,020 to 1,145 euros.
The Ministry of Education and Culture referred to the amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers’ regulations “Procedure in which the state finances vocationally oriented sports education programs”, which improved the financing procedure for vocationally oriented sports education programs. It stipulates that in sports schools in which the number of students and groups has not decreased, as well as performance criteria and conditions have been met, in the next budget year, funding for pedagogical rates no less than in the previous budget year would be ensured. Thus, the directors and founders of sports schools, when assembling teaching and training groups and deciding on the admission of new students, can count on a certain number of state-funded pedagogical rates, the ministry explains. The estimated funding cannot exceed the number of rates necessary for the implementation of educational programs.
In order to promote the improvement of the quality of education, more equal conditions for the training groups of professionally oriented sports education institutions regarding the number and age of students and “higher, mutually equivalent performance criteria in sports” were defined.
This year, according to the information available in the State Education Information System, 92 professionally oriented sports educational institutions were registered, of which 66 were founded by municipalities, and 26 were founded by private founders. In total, 46,317 students in 38 sports under the guidance of 1,877 coaches are learning educational programs in sports schools. The Ministry of Education and Culture will gather the most up-to-date information about 2024 after November 15, as sports education institutions with a professional orientation must submit requests for sports support by then.
The Ministry of Education and Culture pointed out that it is important to accurately separate the goals of the implementation of programs of professional orientation in sports and interest education in sports and to define the achievable results. 56 vocationally oriented educational institutions, in addition to vocationally oriented programs, also implement educational programs of interest, which are studied by 7,645 children.
2023-11-22 15:11:14
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