Currently, schools in the country are administered by district and city councils through local education departments. As part of the reform, they will come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Research, with the creation of territorial education agencies (TAOs). The new agencies will replace local education departments and become the founding bodies for elementary schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, and special education institutions. Preschools and after-school programs will remain under the jurisdiction of local public authorities. The TAOs will manage the funding of educational institutions, approve the number of classes and staffing levels, establish school districts, and monitor compliance with compulsory education; they will also be involved in managing infrastructure and budgets, combat truancy and bullying, and provide support to children with special educational needs. For students and parents, the reform will ensure more timely intervention and more effective support services, while for teachers and principals, it will provide access to specialists and resources that many schools currently lack. The reform has three key objectives. The first is to strengthen the administrative capacity of the bodies responsible for school management by raising salaries, reducing the number of vacant positions, digitizing processes, and implementing modern management practices based on goals and measurable outcomes. The second objective is to ensure the consistent and effective implementation in every school of the policies promoted by the Ministry of Education and Research. The reform aims to strengthen the institutional and financial autonomy of schools, reduce bureaucracy, transform inspections from a punitive mechanism into a tool for support and quality improvement, reduce informal payments, promoting inclusion, preventing and combating bullying, fostering patriotic education and national values, and ensuring the fair administration of exams. The TAOs will ensure the vertically unified implementation of state education policies, eliminating fragmentation of responsibility. The third objective of the reform is to create an education management system based on the best interests of the child and, equally, on data and evidence. TAOs will help limit the influence of local political factors on the allocation of investments, the selection of principals, and the organization of the school network, so that decisions are transparent, fair, and grounded in the actual needs of students and communities. It is planned that, once schools are transferred to the TAO’s jurisdiction, they will be funded directly from the state budget based on a standard per-student cost. Currently, funds are allocated to schools through local budgets. School budgets and reports on their execution will be published online so that parents and communities can see how public funds are being spent. TAO directors will be selected through a competitive process and appointed for five years. No single person may head the agency for more than two terms. Employees of existing district and municipal education departments may be transferred to vacant positions in the new agencies. The document guarantees continued funding for after-school programs and arts or sports classes that were in operation during the 2025–2026 school year. If the number of such classes or groups changes, the reserved funds will not be withdrawn from the TAO’s budget but may be used for institutions within its service area. The government must establish 35 TAOs by October 30 and approve their structure and maximum staffing levels. The transfer of schools and the implementation of the new funding system are scheduled for January 1, 2027. Under a special law on the autonomy of the Gagauzia Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATO), schools in the region are not covered by the reform. // July 22, 2026 – InfoMarket.