Bulgarian educational and family assistance reforms

Bulgaria has introduced legislative changes targeting school funding and social assistance for families.

In August 2026, the Ministry of Education and Science announced plans to reform the national school funding model. The ministry intends to move away from the current “money follows the student” system, which ties state subsidies to enrollment numbers. Minister Georgi Valchev noted that the existing model has incentivized data manipulation, such as schools falsifying records to secure higher subsidies, and has caused instability for teachers in smaller institutions. The reform aims to decouple funding from headcounts to prioritize educational outcomes and resource equity.

Following this, the government approved amendments to the Law on Family Assistance for Children. These changes relax restrictions on social benefits related to student attendance. Previously, parents could lose their entire one-time annual assistance if a child had five unexcused absences in a month. Under the new rules, this penalty is removed to prevent financial sanctions from driving children out of the educational system. The amendments also reduce administrative requirements for student mothers and expand eligibility to include pregnant foreign nationals and families of refugees.