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Pacitan and Pati Implement Formula Funding for Schools
From 15 - 17 April 2004 in Surabaya there was a workshop on Formula Funding for Schools (known in Indonesian as Dana Alokasi Sekolah - DAS) in which the five first stage districts and Kota Batu took part. The basic idea is that schools which need more funding (determined among other factors by the number of students) should receive relatively more funding.
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Participants from Pacitan discussing Formula Funding
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If the funding is allocated and distributed directly to schools the school principal and committee can plan its use according to their aims (SBM) and the local community can be informed in a transparent manner of the sources, amount and use of the funds. The aims of the workshop were to:
Reach agreement at district level concerning the allocation, delegation and distribution of education funds in a transparent and equitable way to all schools;
Design a School Funding Formula;
Make follow up plans for action at district level.
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We are delighted to report that Pacitan and Pati districts have already budgeted in the district budget for 2004 for school funding (DAS) and since January 2004 have been distributing the funds to schools. The same applies to Kota Batu and Madiun, who are new members of the MBE family.
The variables used by Pati to calculate the DAS include the number of students, the number of teachers and the number of rooms in the school, whereas Pacitan does not use the number of teachers. These districts were asked to help other local governments during the training.
At the end of the program each district government had already drawn up a formula for school funding (DAS) using various variables and weightings, which matched the aims and needs of their area.
In general the variables they used included, the kind of institution, number of students and the number of classrooms.
Pati, Pacitan and Batu had new ideas, so that the 2005 district budget is expected to increase the number of variables and change their weightings. Banyuwangi, Probolinggo and Batang drew up their formula based on their own ideas.
Each area also formed a follow-up team and plans in order to make the drawing up of formula funding quicker and more efficient.
This will be followed by an edict from the Bupati to support implementation. Let's see what happens next, and who is quickest to implement formula funding.
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