IDASA
GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON CHILDREN IN MTEF 2004/05:
SPOTLIGHTING EDUCATION PROGRAMMES
CHILDREN’S BUDGET UNIT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The South African Constitution places an obligation on government to advance a set of comprehensive child specific socio-economic rights that are unqualified by resource limitations or ‘progressive realization’. Section 28(1)(c) affords children the rights to social services, shelter, basic health services and basic nutrition and section 29(1)(a) to basic education. To fulfill this obligation, government needs to design, finance and implement a range of child-specific and other programmes delivering social services to children in poor families where income is too low to facilitate meeting of basic needs.
This is the third and final in a three-part series of Budget Briefs that helps shed light on what government is doing to advance children’s constitutional socio-economic rights by providing information on governments planned spending on child specific social service programmes over the MTEF 2004/05 to 2006/07.1 This Budget Brief focuses on provincial governments’ spending over the MTEF 2004/05 on education programmes that are particularly important for advancing children’s right to basic education. This Budget Brief provides budget information for the MTEF (2004/05 – 2006/07) on the following five programmes: The Public Ordinary Schools (POS), Early Childhood Development (ECD), Independent Schools Subsidies (ISS), Public Special Schools Education (SSE), and the Primary School Feeding Scheme (PSFS) programmes. The Budget Brief has three parts and a conclusion. Section one provides a brief interpretation of the child’s right to basic education and introduces the five government programmes. Section two provides an overview of planned spending on the five programmes over the MTEF 2004/05 – 2006/07. It does this by providing information on the total amounts allocated to each programme for the MTEF 2004/05 - 2006/07; estimated actual spending on the programmes in 2003/04 and audited spending in 2002/03; real growth rates (annual for 2003/04-2006/07) and annual average growth for 2004/05 – 2006/07 for programmes where this data is available. Section three spotlights the level of prioritisation of spending on basic education as indicated by these five programmes, by means of a table that shows, for the years 2002/03, 2003/04, and the MTEF allocations on the five programmes combined as a percentage of:
a) consolidated national and provincial education expenditure and,
b) consolidated national and provincial non-interest expenditure.
The important points that emerge from the data on governments planned spending on the five programmes are:
• When using the five programmes (POS, ECD, ISS, SSE, PSFS) as a proxy for basic education, government spending to deliver this right to children is easy to track.
1 The first Budget Brief in the series used the Provincial Budget Statements released in April 2004 to highlight government’s planned spending on the child specific social assistance and welfare service programmes that are so important for advancing children’s right to social services and social assistance.
The second budget brief considered programming and planned spending on children’s unqualified right to basic health care services. It highlighted the problem of identifying child specific health spending.
• Basic education emerges as a high priority. Spending on the five programmes is a large proportion of total non-interest spending and total education spending.
• There have not been dramatic changes in the level of priority afforded to basic education as proxied by the five programmes over the period 2002/03 to 2006/07. These programmes account for about 75% of consolidated national and provincial education expenditure over the period 2002/03 to 2006/07. However, there is a slight shift in prioritisation, reflected in the fact that the share that these five programmes take up (in non-interest total government spending) declines from 19.13% in 2002/03 to 17.21% in 2006/07.
• The real growth rate over the 2004/05 – 2006/07 MTEF projections for these programmes indicate that :
- POS shows a marginal positive average real growth rate of 1.2%;
- ECD will experience a positive average real growth rate of 8.6%;
- ISS is projected to have a negative average real growth rate of -1.3%;
- SSE shows a positive average real growth rate of 3.8% and,
- PSFS will experience a positive average real growth rate of 8.7%.
• ECD is a small proportion of education spending and POS absorbs most of the education allocation.
• In light of the importance of ECD there may have to be shifts within the education budget to prioritise more and better spending on ECD.
• There is cause for concern about negative real growth rates in some provinces for many of the programmes which are examined in this Brief.
• Government needs to expand the definition of ‘basic education’ to include Grades R to 12 as ‘basic education’ is intended to equip its beneficiaries with the ability to live a dignified life.
1. The child’s right to basic education and key programmes for its realisation "Everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education" (South African Constitution S29(1)(a)) 2 Socio-economic rights in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, for example section 27, is qualified by the ‘progressive realisation’ and ‘available resources’ clause. However, section 28 and section 29 are unqualified, that is the rights enshrined in these clauses are not subject to ‘progressive realisation’ and ‘available resources’.
The White Paper 1 on Education and Training3 notes that the issue of what constitutes basic education must be settled by policy in a way that affirms the Constitution’s sentiments. This policy document proposes that a General Education Certificate (which includes completion of Grades R to 9) adequately defines ‘basic education’. Seleoane (2004:228)4 argues that this definition should at least be extended to Grade 12 if the expectation is that basic education should "allow an individual to face the challenges of life and to work with dignity".
Other than stating that the child’s right to basic education is meant to include education ranging from grades R to 9, government programmes have not been specifically identified as programmes to give effect to the child’s right to a basic education. Government’s budget information on education is not designed in a way that allows a rigorous tracking of allocations to and spending on basic education for children. This is because there is no line item in the provincial budget statements (that have the overwhelming responsibility for financing and implementing programmes to realise the right) that states `basic education’. This means that to indicate planned spending on basic education, a collection of the programmes that can be seen to be most relevant must be identified and used as a proxy. The following five education programmes are used to provide an overview of planned spending on basic education:
2 Act 108 of 1996 (hereafter referred to as the Constitution)
4 Seleoane, M. (2004) The child’s right to basic education. In Coetzee, E. and Streak, J. (2004) Monitoring child socio-economic rights in South Africa: Achievements and Challenges. Idasa, Cape Town..
• Public Ordinary Schools (POS)
• Early Childhood Development (ECD)
• Independent School Subsidies (ISS)
• Special School Education (SSE)
• Primary School Feeding Scheme (PSFS)
Table 1 below provides a brief description of each programme covering its objective services provided and target audience.
Table 1: Programmes used to track spending on the right to a basic education5 Programme Objective Target audience Public ordinary schooling Provision of ordinary schooling to all learners from the compulsory schooling band (1-9) and older (grade 10-12). Children aged 7-15 who require compulsory schooling (grades 1-9) and wanting further education and training (grade 10-12). Early childhood development Provision of early childhood education (through public ordinary schools and community centres) at the Grade R and earlier levels in accordance with White Paper 5.
ECD is for children from birth to 6 years to provide educational programmes that prepare them for Grade 1. Independent school subsidies This is a government subsidised programme. However, it requires mention in the context of tracking spending on children. This line item in provincial budget statements records subsidies for primary and secondary schools that are independent. Schools that are registered with the Department of Education as Independent Schools and that qualify for a subsidy in terms of criteria in the South African Schools Act of 1996. Only schools that do not provide inferior education and that have an admission policy which does not discriminate on the grounds of race qualify. Independent school enrolment amounts to about 2% of school enrolment nation-wide. Special school education
This programme provides education for learners with special needs at public schools. This includes provision of relevant education support materials and taking all reasonable measures to ensure that physical facilities at public schools are accessible to disabled persons.
Children with disabilities that can effectively be included in public schooling. The number of targeted beneficiaries for special needs education is set for 280 000 learners as part of a 20-year plan aimed at improving access to and provisioning of special needs education in the White Paper on Special Needs Education. 6 Primary school feeding scheme Early morning nutritious supplementary meal comprising not less than 25% of RDA of energy for 7-10 year olds and not less than 20% of RDA of energy for 11-14 year olds Primary school learners from poor households. The programme targets schools in areas with the highest poverty levels, rural schools, farm schools and schools in informal settlements.
5 Streak, J. and Kgamphe, L. (2004). Government spending on children in MTEF 2004/05: Spotlighting social development programmes. Budget Brief 141. Budget Information Service, Idasa Cape Town
6 Cassiem, S. (2001) The right of children to basic education. In Cassiem, S. and Streak, J. (2001) Budgeting for child socio-economic rights: Government obligations and the child’s right to social security and education. Idasa: Cape Town
Tracking budget allocations to these five programmes provides a reasonable view of government’s spending on basic education is provided. However, it must be noted that the POS, ISS and SSE programme expenditure and allocations are used not only to deliver grades 1 – 9 but also grade 10-12 (excluded from the definition of basic education). It must also be pointed out that a part of government’s spending on basic education is omitted via this choice of programmes by the fact that there are also funds allocated to basic education by national government. These are captured in programmes such as ‘Administration’ and ‘General Education and Training’.
2. Planned spending on basic education over MTEF 2004/05
2.1 Financing
Education is a concurrent competency of national and provincial governments in South Africa. The National Department of Education takes responsibility for mainly policy development, regulation and monitoring of concurrent national and provincial competencies. Provincial government is responsible then for implementation or service delivery. Education is currently not a local government competency. 7 The POS, ISS and SSE programmes are funded by provinces allocating money from their total provincial revenue (comprised of equitable share from national government and own revenue). The ECD (Grade R or Reception Year) programme was initiated by means of a pilot project from 1997 – 2000 financed by a conditional grant. This was followed by a national rollout of Grade R services and a conditional grant was intended especially to support roll-out of services in community-based ECD sites. This conditional grant ended on 31 March 2004. Henceforth, provinces were expected to finance the Grade R programme from the equitable share. The PSFS programme is funded through a conditional grant. When programmes are funded via the equitable share one has to look for budget data from the provincial budget statements or Intergovernmental Fiscal Review. In this analysis the ‘Trends in Intergovernmental Finances: 2000/01 – 2006/07’
7 Republic of South Africa (2004). Division of Revenue Bill. Government Printers, Pretoria. was utilised to determine nominal figures relating to spending and allocations for POS, ECD, ISS and SSE. The Primary School Feeding Scheme was first implemented at its inception in 1995/6 by provincial departments of health and financed through a conditional grant. At this time it was referred to as the Primary School Nutrition Programme. Since 1997/8 it was renamed the Primary School Feeding Scheme (PSFS) and delivered as part of the Integrated Nutrition Plan (INP). From 2004/5 the PSFS is financed by a conditional grant allocated to provincial departments of education. The PSFS spending data for 2002/03 and 2003/04 was obtained from Mr. Jan Booysen from the Department of Health and for the MTEF 2004/05 has been gathered from the 2004 Division of Revenue Bill.8 . For each of the five programmes, for each province, the following budget information is tabulated:
• The voted nominal amounts for 2003/04 and the forward estimates for 2004/05 and 2005/06.
• The nominal audited amounts for 2002/03 and the revised estimated figures in 2003/04 .
• Real growth rates9 for the periods 2003/04 – 2006/07 and the average real growth for the MTEF (2004/05 – 2006/07). In addition, a diagrammatic view of nominal spending information for 2002/03 and 2003/04 as well as the nominal allocations for the MTEF 2004/05 – 2006/07 is provided.
8 Funding information for above –mentioned programmes in this Brief (except the PSFS) is sourced from the ‘Trends in Intergovernmental Finances: 2000/01 – 2006/07’. Funding information for the PSFS is sourced from the ‘Division of Revenue Bill 2004’.
9 The GDP inflation figures provided in Budget Review 2004 have been used to calculate the real values.
2.2. Public Ordinary Schools (POS) Programme
Table 2: Public Ordinary Schools (POS) programme, amount (R’000) and real growth (%)
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 MTEF Audited preliminary outcome MTEF Average real growth Eastern Cape 7987937 8892144 9367426 10104758 10720020
Real growth 6.32 -0.05 2.25 0.84 1.01
Free State 2890994 3302108 3599471 3906679 4028213
Real growth 2.36 1.45 2.06 -0.84 0.89
North West 3785788 4258648 4609005 4929295 5155387
Real growth 7.44 2.68 1.37 -0.58 1.16
Western Cape 3867617 4257805 4536853 4791246 4988682
Real growth 5.15 1.09 0.10 -1.03 0.05
All provinces 44672207 50371377 53958645 57684497 61030164
Real growth 8.04 1.58 1.05 1.00 1.21
Figure 1: Provincial allocations and spending, POS programme (nominal, R’000) Nominal figures 2000000
4000000
6000000
8000000
10000000
12000000
14000000
provinces amount (R thousand 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07
Comparing the provinces, the greatest investment in nominal terms made for the POS programme is made by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) followed by the Eastern Cape. The lowest allocation and spending is in the Northern Cape. From Table 2 the following points can be made about the real growth rates in the POS programme budgets:
• The consolidated provincial growth in the POS programme budgets show positive real growth in allocations, the growth rate is relatively strong from 2002/03 to 2003/04 at 8.%. However, it tapers off over the 2004/05 to 2006/07 MTEF to an annual average real growth rate of 1.2%.
• Over this MTEF there is marginal positive average annual growth rates ranging from the highest of 3.8 % in Mpumalanga to the lowest of 0.05% in the Western Cape and 0.9% in the Northern Cape.
• Free State and KZN have the same positive average annual growth rates over the MTEF of 1.4%
• Cause for concern is the negative real growth rates over the MTEF (2004/05 to 2006/07) in some provinces. For example, there is a negative real growth in the Eastern Cape which seems marginal at 0.05% for the years 2003/04 to 2004/05 but means that the allocation has not been increased adequately to combat inflation. The scenario in Gauteng is even more alarming with a negative real growth rate of -4.7% for 2003/04 to 2004/05. From the second year of the MTEF 2005/06 negative real growth rates emerge in Limpopo (-0.2%). However, there are once again positive real growth rates in Gauteng and Northern Cape as compared with 2004/05. In 2006/07 there are negative real growth rates in four provinces: Western Cape (-1%); North West (-0.6%); Northern Cape (-0.8%); and Gauteng (-0.2%). All provinces (except Gauteng) have a positive annual average growth rate. Gauteng shows a negative real growth rate of -1.2 % over the MTEF.
2.3. Early Childhood Development Education (ECD) Programme Table 3: Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme, amount (R’000) and real growth (%) 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 MTEF Province Audited preliminary outcome MTEF Average real growth
Eastern Cape 24402 27301 39245 53403 68875
Real growth 6.86 36.38 28.98 22.60 29.32
Free State 13766 16290 30404 56363 75067
Real growth 13.02 77.08 75.72 26.60 59.80
Gauteng 88946 49000 49000 49000
Real growth -0.05 -47.78 -4.94 -17.59
KwaZulu-Natal 52801 22588 79503 87770 93037
Real growth -59.14 233.94 4.64 0.76 79.78
Limpopo 12193 12809 20315 21392 22555
Real growth 0.34 50.47 -0.19 0.22 16.83
Mpumalanga 35084 35075 44713 54618 57895
Real growth -4.51 20.95 15.78 0.76 12.50
Northern Cape 10632 11371 13199 15622 18612
Real growth 2.15 10.13 12.19 13.25 11.86
North West 107033 107259 110079 121702 134312
Real growth -4.29 -2.63 4.80 4.91 2.36
Western Cape 52838 56310 57870 29304 38162
Real growth 1.79 -2.49 -52.00 23.79 -10.23
All provinces 308749 377949 444328 489174 557515 Real growth 16.92 21.57 -4.25 8.34 8.55
provinces amount (R thousa 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Comparing the provinces, the greatest investment in nominal terms made in this programme is made by the North West, between 2002/03 -2006/07. The lowest spending and allocation is in the Northern Cape and Limpopo provinces. From Table 3, the following points can be made about the real growth rates in the ECD programme budgets:
• The consolidated provincial growth rate in the ECD programme budgets shows fluctuations in real year-on-year growth. There is a trend of positive real growth from 16.9% in 2003/04 to 21.6% in the first year of the MTEF 2004/05. However, this changes dramatically when the year-on-year real growth rate becomes negative in 2005/6 at -4.3%. The final year of the MTEF 2006/07 once again shows a reversal with a positive year on year real growth rate of 8.3%.
• There is great variation of average annual real growth rates amongst the provinces over the current MTEF.
• Over the MTEF (2004/05-2006/07) there are very positive average annual growth rates of 79.8% for KZN; 59.8% for Free State and 29.3% for Eastern Cape.
• Over the same period, Limpopo (16.8%); Mpumalanga (12.5%) and Northern Cape (11.9%) provinces have comparable annual average real growth rates.
• There is much fluctuation from year-to-year in KZN, the year-on-year real growth rate from 2003/04 to 2004/05 is a drastic increase of 233.9% after a negative year-onyear real growth (-59.1%) from 2002/03 to 2003/4.
• Limpopo also experiences some fluctuation in year on year growth. From 2003/04 to 2004/05 there is a positive real growth rate of 50.5%. From 2004/05 to 2005/06 there is a negative real growth rate of -0.2%.
• Cause for concern are the negative annual average real growth rates over the 2004/05 – 2006/07 MTEF in provinces such as: Gauteng (-17.6%) and Western Cape (-10.2%). Year-on-year negative real growth rates began in the 2003/4 budget year in provinces such as: North West (-4.3%); Mpumalanga (-4.5%); and a drastic decline in KZN of -59.1% In the first MTEF year 2004/05, year-on-year negative real growth rates are evidenced in Western Cape (-2.5); North West (-2.6%); and Gauteng (-0.1%). In Gauteng there are negative year-on-year real growth rates throughout the MTEF
2.4. Independent School Subsidies (ISS) Programme Table 4: Independent School Subsidies (ISS) programme, amounts (R’000) and real growth (%) 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 MTEF Province Audited preliminary outcome MTEF Average real growth
Eastern Cape 14224 18697 17459 18419 19616
Real growth 25.55 -11.41 0.00 1.23 -3.39
Free State 15266 19708 21655 23212 24684
Real growth 28.49 -15.19 0.47 0.76 -4.65
Gauteng 120701 139499 139600 148643 157501
Real growth 10.39 -5.05 0.93 0.72 -1.13
KwaZulu-Natal 23285 31324 28000 29680 31461
Real growth 28.49 -15.19 0.47 0.76 -4.65
Limpopo 14319 16635 15228 16751 17756
Real growth 10.96 -13.15 4.27 0.76 -2.71
Mpumalanga 7397 8519 9493 10063 10665
Real growth 10.00 5.72 0.48 0.74 2.31
Northern Cape 4173 4651 4749 5462 6008
Real growth 6.45 -3.12 9.02 4.56 3.49
North West 4426 3533 5500 6000 6500
Real growth -23.76 47.70 3.40 2.98 18.03
Western Cape 23745 26243 31162 32751 34421
Real growth 5.56 12.66 -0.38 -0.10 4.06
All provinces 227536 268809 272846 290981 308612
Real growth 13.70 -5.54 0.99 0.79 -1.25
Figure 3: Provincial allocations and spending, ISS programme (nominal, R’000) Nominal Figures
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
180000
provinces Amount (R thousa 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Looking across the years, Gauteng has the largest nominal allocation whereas North West and Northern Cape have the lowest. The graph also shows that, since 2002/03, most provinces have had positive year-on-year growth in budget allocations in nominal terms. However, provinces such as KZN, Limpopo and North West demonstrate some decreases in nominal terms. From Table 4 above, the following points can be made about the ISS Programme budgets:
• Between 2002/03 – 2003/04 there was real growth in year-on-year spending in most provinces - the most exceptional being Eastern Cape (25.6%); Free State and KZN (28.5%). However, for 2002/03 to 2003/04 there was negative year-on-year real growth in spending in North West (-23.8%).
• Between 2003/04 and the first year of the MTEF 2004/05 negative real year-on- year growth in allocations are projected in most provinces with the exception of Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape where positive real year on year growth is projected of 5.7%, 47.7% and12.7% respectively.
• Between 2004/05 and 2005/06, the Eastern Cape allocation remains steady in real terms whilst the Northern Cape experienced the biggest growth of 9% after a negative year-on-year growth of 3 % between 2003/04 and 2004/05.
• Over the MTEF positive average real growth in allocations are noted in Mpumalanga; Northern Cape; North West and Western Cape. The most significant is the positive average real growth in the North West (18%). The consolidated average real growth over the MTEF for all the provinces however is negative at -1.3%.
2.5. Special School Education (SSE) Programme Table 4: Special School Education (SSE) programme, amount (R’000) and real growth (%) 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 MTEF Province Audited preliminary outcome MTEF Average real growth
provinces amount (R thous 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Comparing the provinces the greatest investment in nominal terms in this programme is made by Gauteng followed by the Western Cape with very positive increases also in Eastern Cape. The lowest spending and allocation is in the Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and North West. From Table 5, the most significant points that emerge are:
• The consolidated provincial growth in the SSE programme budgets, show positive real growth in spending and allocations, the growth rate is relatively strong from the spending in 2003/04 to the start of the MTEF allocations in 2004/05 at 6% however, it tapers off over the MTEF to an annual average real growth rate of 3.8%.
• Over the MTEF, when comparing, annual average growth rates, the 20.7% in Eastern Cape is the most remarkable as others range from 8.5% in Northern Cape to -0.5% in Free State.
• Causes for concern are the provinces which show negative annual average growth rates over the MTEF. These are Free State (-0.5%); Gauteng (-0.3%) and, Mpumalanga (0.2%). This trend in negative real growth rates starts in the first year of the MTEF 2004/05 in the following provinces: Free State (-1.9); KZN (-0.1%) Mpumalanga(-1.7%). While KZN is able to reverse this position by the end of the MTEF, Gauteng’s year-on-year negative real growth in allocations which only commences in 2005/06 leads to a negative annual average real growth rate over the MTEF.
2.5. Primary School Feeding Scheme Programme (PSFS) Table 6: Primary School Feeding Scheme (PSFS) programme, amount (R’000) and real growth (%)10 2002/2003 2003/2004 2004/2005 2005/2006 2006/2007 MTEF Province Allocated Allocated MTEF Average real growth
Eastern Cape 114870 154192 177259 194288 233882
Real growth 28.21 9.07 3.89 14.43 9.13
Free State 38358 35182 49100 53817 64784
Real growth 28.02 5.90 3.89 14.43 8.07
Gauteng 46807 63032 75730 83006 99921
Real growth 28.62 13.99 3.89 14.43 10.77
KwaZulu-Natal 121257 162531 181420 198849 239372
Real growth 28.02 5.90 3.89 14.43 8.07
Limpopo 38115 54837 153125 167836 202039
Real growth 37.41 164.93 3.89 14.43 61.08
Mpumalanga 39391 71967 64079 70235 84549
Real growth 74.50 -15.52 3.89 14.43 0.93
Northern Cape 9304 18030 22469 24628 29647
Real growth 85.09 18.24 3.89 14.43 12.19
North West 96982 134315 72401 79357 95529
Real growth 32.28 -48.86 3.89 14.43 -10.18
Western Cape 24080 27603 36617 40135 48313
Real growth 9.48 25.86 3.89 14.43 14.73
All provinces 169757 252116 195545.72 214374.45 258110.15
Real growth 32.49 7.78 3.89 14.43 8.70
10 The information for 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 was obtained from Mr Jan Booysen, Department of Health and information for 2004/2005-2006/2007 was sourced from the Division of Revenue Bill (2004). Figure 5: Provincial allocations and spending, PSFS programme (nominal, R’000) No minal f ig ure s R0
R50 ,000
R100,000
R150,000
R200,000
R250,000
R300,000 Pro vinces
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 Comparing the provinces the greatest investment in nominal terms made in this programme is made by KZN, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. The lowest spending and allocations is by the Northern Cape province. From Table 6, the most significant points that emerge are:
• The consolidated provincial real growth in spending from 2002/03 to 2003/04 shows an increase in the growth rate of 32.5%. Over the MTEF, consolidated provincial annual average real growth rate of allocations is 8.7%.
• Over the MTEF, the most remarkable annual average real growth rate is in Limpopo at 61.1%. Positive annual average real growth rates range from Western Cape (14.7%) to KZN and Free State (8.1%). A marginal annual average positive real growth rate over the MTEF is evidenced in Mpumalanga at 0.9%. The only negative annual average real growth rate over the MTEF emerges in the North West (-10.2%).
• Causes for concern are the negative real growth rate in Mpumalanga of -15.5% and Western Cape of -48.9% when comparing the spending in 2003/04 with the projected allocation in 2004/05.
3. Prioritisation of spending on ’basic education’ (differentiating amongst programmes)
To comment on the prioritisation of spending on basic education, Table 7 shows expenditure (for the period 2002/03 to 2006/07) on the five programmes as a percentage of:
a) consolidated national and provincial education expenditure and,
b) consolidated national and provincial non-interest main budget expenditure.
Table 7: Spending on POS, ECD, ISS, SSE, PSFS as a % of consolidated national and provincial education expenditure as well as allocated main budget expenditure11 MTEF 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 200506 2006/07
POS (Amount R thousand) 44672207 50371377 53958645 57684497 61030164 % of consolidated education expenditure 71.18 72.14 71.13 71.14 70.90 % of consolidated allocated expenditure 18.25 17.71 17.08 16.64 16.36
ECD (Amount R thousand) 308749 377949 444328 489174 557515 % of consolidated education expenditure 0.49 0.54 0.59 0.60 0.65 % of consolidated allocated expenditure 0.13 0.13 0.14 0.14 0.15
ISS (Amount R thousand) 227536 268809 272846 290981 308612 % of consolidated education expenditure 0.36 0.38 0.36 0.36 0.36 % of consolidated allocated expenditure 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.08 0.08
SSE (Amount R thousand) 1427335 1565656 1749731 1894969 2047042 % of consolidated education expenditure 2.27 2.24 2.31 2.34 2.38 % of consolidated allocated expenditure 0.58 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.55
PSFS (Amount R thousand) 169757 252116 195546 214374 258110 % of consolidated education expenditure 0.27 0.36 0.26 0.26 0.30 % of consolidated allocated expenditure 0.07 0.09 0.06 0.06 0.07
Total of five programmes (Amount R thousand) 46805584 52835907 56621096 60573995 64201443 % of consolidated education expenditure 74.58 75.67 74.64 74.70 74.59 % of consolidated allocated expenditure 19.13 18.58 17.92 17.47 17.21
The main points that emerge from this table are:
• Aggregate provincial expenditure on the five programmes that are used as a proxy for delivery of basic education to children, constitutes a large percentage of consolidated national and provincial education expenditure for the years 2002/03-
11 The totals of each programmes are obtained from summation of spending and budget allocations from
National Treasury ‘Trends in Intergovernmental Finances: 2000/01 – 2006/07’. Consolidated provincial and national education expenditure figures as well as the consolidated allocated expenditure (non-interest main budget expenditure) are obtained from the 2003 and 2004 Budget Review documents. 2006/07. Although there is an increase of 1.1% from 2002/03 to 2003/04, the percentage declines to 74.7% and holds more or less steady over the MTEF. The share of spending on these five programmes of consolidated allocated expenditure is also relatively high but declines from 19.1% in 2002/03 to 17.2% in 2006/07.
These relatively high percentages mean that that government is committed to delivering basic education to children.
• The largest share of spending is towards the POS programme which contributes over 70% of consolidated education expenditure and fluctuates between 16% and 19% of consolidated allocated expenditure.
• Although ECD is reported to be a government priority its percentage of the consolidated provincial and national education budget is still only 0.5% in 2002/03 increasing only marginally to 0.7% in 2006/07.
Conclusion This Budget Brief contributes to monitoring government’s role in giving effect to child socio-economic rights and has focused on government’s spending to deliver the right to basic education. It has argued that government is prioritising the child’s right to basic education by implementing the following five programmes: Public Ordinary Schooling, Early Childhood Development, Independent School Subsidies, Special School Education and Primary School Feeding Scheme. Even though there is not specific mention of programmes relating to the child’s right to basic education in government’s budget classifications system, the afore-mentioned programmes were used as a proxy. From the budget analysis of the five programmes the following main points emerge:
• Together these five education programmes account for about 75% of consolidated national and provincial expenditure.
• The five programmes absorbs a high but declining share of non-interest main budget expenditure over the MTEF (2004/05-2006/07)
• The real growth rate over the MTEF (2004/05-2006/07) projections for these programmes indicate that :
- POS shows a marginal positive average real growth rate of 1.2%;
- ECD will experience positive average real growth rate of 8.6%;
- ISS is projected to have a negative average real growth rate of -1.3%;
- SSE shows a positive average real growth rate of 3.8% and
- PSFS will experience a positive average real growth rate of 8.7%.
• Even though the increase in allocations of POS is marginal, it still receives by far the biggest nominal allocations compared to these other education programmes. The growth in ECD and PSFS is comparable at over 8%. Only the negative real average growth rate in the ISS programme is disconcerting as the allocations will not keep abreast of inflation.
• In addition to raising the concern about the definition of ‘basic education’, this Brief highlighted declining expenditure on some programmes as a challenge.
References Cassiem, S. (2001) The right of children to basic education. In Cassiem, S. and Streak, J. (2001) Budgeting for child socio-economic rights: Government obligations and the child’s right to social security and education. Idasa: Cape Town National Treasury (2004) Budget review 2003. Pretoria: Government Printers National Treasury (2004) Budget review 2004. Pretoria: Government Printers National Treasury (2004) Division of Revenue Bill 2004. Pretoria: Government Printers National Treasury (2004) Trends in Intergovernemntal Finances 2000/01 – 2006/07.
Pretoria: Government Printers
Streak, J. and Kgamphe, L. (2004) Government spending on children in MTEF 2004/05: Spotlighting social development programmes. Budget Brief 141. Budget Information Service. Idasa: Cape Town Seleoane, M. (2004) The child’s right to basic education. In Coetzee, E. and Streak, J. (2004) Monitoring child socio-economic rights in South Africa: Achievements and Challenges. Cape Town: Idasa