Vratsa mayor Kalin Kamenov said the results do not match the money spent. Bulgarian municipalities have put about €1.02bn (2bn leva) into repairs and upgrades at schools over the past 19 years.
Kamenov, a board member of the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria (NAMRB), spoke at a forum called "Municipalities closer to schools – from responsibilities to real involvement" in the Albena resort. The forum is part of NAMRB's Annual Meeting.
This story follows our earlier report on the opening of the meeting, where NAMRB executive director Silvia Georgieva said local policy must be built around the needs of children and families.
The investment is a "wonderful" achievement, and municipalities have done a lot for education in recent years, Kamenov said. But in his view, most of the money has gone only into "the packaging".
The mayor said what has been achieved fits neither the school curriculum nor the goals of the schools and of many of their head teachers. He called the results of the national external assessment "shocking" and said they become more worrying each year.
Kamenov said education minister Prof. Georgi Valchev talks about the problems frankly. Attention should turn to distorted delegated budgets, huge carry-over balances, abandoned buildings and the lack of an adequate plan that fits the real needs of business.
Kamenov backed Valchev's view that "money should follow quality and results".
"After so many years of talking about money following the child, a system that must be changed, I am glad I have finally found a person who truly stands behind this idea and is on our side in making money follow quality and results," he said.
If results do not match the goals, "we must turn the pyramid upside down", the mayor added. Teachers, head teachers and everyone else are involved in the process for the sake of the children, so the child must come first in everything.
Kamenov expects the discussion to produce good practices that can become national policies.