Educational budget – 2026: Resources, investment priorities, and problems of implementation

«Salary increases for teaching staff. Is there funding for this in the budget for 2026»

1. Education in State Budget–2026

State budget of Ukraine for 2026 allocates UAH 278.7 billion for education expenditure, whereas in 2025 the corresponding figure amounted to UAH 198.9 billion. This means that funding for the education sector has increased by UAH 79.8 billion, representing a 40% year-on-year increase.

The main factor behind this growth is expenditure on the salaries of teaching and academic staff. In 2026, UAH 195.3 billion is planned for this purpose, compared with UAH 139.9 billion in 2025. The increase amounts to 55.4 billion UAH, or almost 40%. Meanwhile, the basic mechanism for funding general secondary education through an educational subsidy has been effectively retained.

Budget for 2026 for the education sector is indicative not only because of the increase in overall funding, but above all because of the actual rise in basic salaries for teaching staff, which has occurred for the first time in a long while within a single financial year. In previous years, growth in expenditures on education was generally achieved through indexation, allowances or single-time decisions not linked to changes in basic salaries. In 2026, the state has allocated resources specifically for a systematic increase in pay, which fundamentally distinguishes this budget from those of previous years.

2. Education subsidy and investment directions: UAH 13.5 billion in addition to centralised expenditure

A key element of the budget for 2026 in terms of the development of educational infrastructure is investment subsidies to local budgets. In 2026, their total amount will be UAH 13.5 billion, whereas in 2025, UAH 8.3 billion was allocated for these purposes. This means that investment resources for communities have been increased by UAH 5.2 billion, or by more than 60%.

Investment subsidies in 2026 are primarily aimed at the safety, accessibility, and modernisation of the educational environment. In particular, funding is provided for the following projects:

• arrangement of bomb shelters in educational establishments – UAH 6 billion, including, UAH 1 billion specifically allocated for bomb shelters in pre-school educational establishments;

• implementation of the ‘New Ukrainian School’ programme – UAH 3 billion;

• purchase of school buses – UAH 2 billion;

• modernisation of kitchens units in educational institutions – UAH 1 billion;

• renovation of workshops and laboratories in vocational and pre-higher education institutions – UAH 1 billion;

• fire safety measures in educational institutions – UAH 0.5 billion.

and also:

• UAH 4.4 billion – free school nutrition (the reform will cover 3.5 million schoolchildren);

• UAH 6.6 billion (+UAH 1.2 billion) – doubling of scholarships from September;

• UAH 2.1 billion (+UAH 0.7 billion) – 14.1 million textbooks for grades 4 and 9.

3. Allocation of the education subsidy in 2026: Government decisions and their implications

Special attention should be paid to the allocation of educational subsidies in 2026. In line with Article 39 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2026’, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was granted the exclusive right to allocate educational subsidies among local budgets, as an exception to the general provisions of the Budget Code.

To implement this provision, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 1764 dated 26 December 2025, which allocated the education subsidies between local and regional budgets for the period from January to August 2026. As of January 2026, the total amount of the education subsidies was UAH 124.54 billion, a significant part of which was formed by the reallocation of funds within the education budget, in particular through the programme to enhance the prestige of the teaching profession.

The date on which this Resolution was adopted is important. Budget legislation stipulates that decisions on local budgets for 2026 were to be adopted no later than 25 December 2025. This means that Resolution No. 1764 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was adopted after the deadline for approving local budgets had passed. In practice, this meant that most communities adopted their budgets without the final parameters of the education subsidies, and so in late December and early January, local councils adopt amendments to the budgets for 2026.

Apart from reallocating financial resources, Resolution No. 1764 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has amended the regulatory framework for educational subsidies. In particular, the procedure for granting subsidies (in terms of access for private general secondary education institutions) has been updated, and a revised allocation formula has been introduced. The updated formula provides for the use of different calculation parameters: instead of the student density indicator, which previously took into account the spatial characteristics of territories, the following indicators have been introduced: ‘Temporary calculated class capacity’, ‘Coefficient for adjusting the calculated class size by the number of students in the group’, and ‘Coefficient for adjusting the number of teaching staff posts (excluding teachers)’ for each community and regional budget.

The provision of Clause 5 of Resolution No. 1764 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, stating that in 2026 the amount of the education subsidy for all local budgets shall be determined without taking into account additional hours in the curriculum for students in Group I for specific subjects, optional courses, individual lessons, and so on, does not imply that general secondary education institutions are unable to provide the variable component of the curriculum, which is used for: reinforcing subjects in the core curriculum; introducing optional subjects and elective courses; and providing individual lessons and consultations.

Please note that the amendments relate solely to the formulaic allocation of the education grant between local budgets. At the same time, the procedure for calculating and paying salaries to teaching staff is governed by other provisions of budgetary and education legislation and does not depend on the values of the formulaic coefficients. Accordingly, the formula determines only the amount of resources to be distributed among budgets, but does not constitute a legal basis for setting the remuneration of specific teaching staff or for general secondary education institutions to fulfil the requirements of the core curriculum, which forms part of the state educational standards.

The DECIDE project is implemented by NGO DOCCU and PHZH International Projects in Education with the support of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine.