Standard needs of Italian primary schools

Abstract

The education system in Italy is mainly public and highly centralised concerning both financial and regulatory aspects. However, there are significant disparities in school spending and students’ performance across regions. The aim of the paper is to provide a first attempt for the Italian case to estimating the standard financial requirement based on the demand of service (e.g., the number of students, the type of school) for a sample of 1,000 primary schools for the year 2009/2010. This standard is then compared with the school current endowment to evaluate whether a better allocation of available resources can be obtained. Results suggest that the actual spending is quite far from the estimated standard for all schools; most of them should get a positive correction, receiving more resources to accomplish their tasks. Students’ performance also seems to play a not negligible role in shaping school funding mechanisms mostly introducing incentive schemes.