Ho Chi Minh City plans 10 revenue streams for more than 3,500 public schools after merger

PHOTO: BAO CHAU

Collection level according to 2 groups of subjects

The draft resolution regulating the revenues and collection levels, revenue and expenditure management mechanism for services serving and supporting educational activities of public educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City in the 2025-2026 school year is built on the basis of consolidating the revenues from services serving and supporting educational activities as stipulated in Resolution No. 13/2024/NQ-HDND (Region 1 - old Ho Chi Minh City), Resolution No. 01/2023/NQ-HDND (Region 2 - old Binh Duong ) and Resolution No. 14/2022/NQ-HDND (Region 3 - old Ba Ria - Vung Tau).

Accordingly, there are 10 revenue items and service fees to support educational activities of public educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City for the 2025-2026 school year as follows:

PHOTO: HCM CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

In which, group 1: Children, students, and trainees studying at educational institutions in the ward; group 2: Children, students, and trainees studying at educational institutions in the commune and special zone.

According to the draft resolution, the collection rates specified in the resolution are maximum collection rates. Depending on the actual situation of the educational institution and the needs of the students, the educational institution will agree with the parents on the specific collection rate, but it must not exceed the collection rates specified in this resolution and must not be 15% higher than the previous school year.

Public educational institutions shall base on the actual situation, material conditions and students' needs to develop revenue and expenditure estimates for each revenue item, as a basis for calculating specific revenue levels to ensure the principle of sufficient revenue and sufficient expenditure, consistent with the actual situation of the school year, and submit to competent authorities for approval. The use of revenues must be for the right purposes, the revenue and expenditure plan for each revenue item must be made public to parents before implementation and financial management regimes must be fully implemented according to regulations.

The collection period must ensure the principle of the actual number of months of study but not exceed the time frame prescribed by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the school year schedule of preschool education, general education and continuing education in Ho Chi Minh City.

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City became the locality with the largest number of schools in the country, with more than 3,500 educational institutions at all levels, nearly 2.6 million students and over 100,000 administrators and teachers.

Of which, preschool has 478,458 students, primary has 939,002 students, secondary has 759,278 students (an increase of 42,978 students compared to the previous school year) and high school has 352,051 students. To prepare for the opening of the 2025-2026 school year, the whole city is expected to put into use 1,287 new classrooms from the budget.

Legal basis for schools to organize service activities

After completing the draft resolution, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training will submit it to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to submit to the Standing Committee of the City People's Council for approval at the upcoming People's Council meeting.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the issuance of the resolution by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council is practical and necessary, in the context of timely preparation for the organization of the 2025-2026 school year and to have a legal basis for implementing the collection of fees to ensure publicity, transparency, and suitability with the socio -economic situation of Ho Chi Minh City.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training assessed that when the resolution is issued, it will create a legal corridor and unify the collection levels of service fees to support educational activities other than tuition fees at public schools.

This is the basis for schools to implement collections in a public and transparent manner; ensure that the organization and implementation of collections in schools is unified; improve the effectiveness of management and supervision by management agencies over collections of educational institutions; parents and society have a basis for comparison and participation in monitoring the organization of educational activities of schools in terms of both content and costs, avoiding overcharging and causing public outrage.

The issuance of the resolution on the basis of merging the three resolutions of the three old regions does not disrupt the organization and implementation of public educational institutions nor does it affect the rights of students and learners.

The Department of Education and Training emphasized that if a resolution is not issued in time to apply uniformly throughout the city before the school year begins, it will lead to a situation where public schools will not have a legal basis to organize and implement service activities to support educational activities in schools, affecting the learning and living of students. At the same time, balancing the financial resources of the unit will also face difficulties when the state budget does not guarantee these services.