What governors think about the new criteria for their effectiveness

The government has expanded the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of governors. Relevant Decree signed July 4, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. They make changes to the calculation methodology regarding the level of education. Now it will take into account indicators on the creation of new places in educational institutions, the availability of security in schools and kindergartens, as well as the accessibility of these premises for children with disabilities.

The sources of data for the calculation will be the Ministry of Education and Rosstat, the resolution says. In total, the assessment of the effectiveness of the heads of regions includes 38 methods: 19 – for calculating indicators for the previous year and the same number – for setting targets for the future. Among the criteria are life expectancy, the growth rate of real wages, the volume of housing construction, the quality of education, and the ecological well-being of the region.

In April, include the criterion of accessibility and safety of educational facilities in this list offered Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov, delivering his annual report to the Federation Council.

According to him, half of the conclusions of the regional commissions on the readiness of schools for the beginning of the school year contain unreliable data. During inspections, the supervisory agency revealed the absence of physical security, fences, metal detectors and video surveillance systems, Krasnov listed. If those metrics influence performance ratings, governors who “didn’t care about schools” would “get F’s,” he added.

They dealt with all these issues before, the governors interviewed by Vedomosti reported. “We are responsible for everything. <...> The main thing is that we are doing this work anyway, well, here we will be judged on this work. Schools were, are and will be our responsibility,” Governor of the Bryansk Region Alexander Bogomaz told Vedomosti.

According to him, the region as a whole managed to solve the problem of lack of places in kindergartens – more than 30 preschool institutions have been commissioned over the past seven years, and construction continues. Bogomaz noted that the issue of teaching schoolchildren on the second shift still remains, but the construction of new facilities is also underway. “Every year we rent one or two schools,” he said.

In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing municipal educational institutions to be transferred under the control of regional authorities. The developers pointed out that even in one subject there may be a different level of schooling, and such a measure will improve the level of education, solve personnel and logistical problems.

“We do not strictly divide our powers between the region and the municipalities. People don’t care whether the problem is regional or municipal, they want quick and effective solutions. As for the security of educational institutions, this is our priority,” Governor of the Yaroslavl Region Mikhail Evraev told Vedomosti.

In 2022, the region allocated more than 500 million rubles to ensure the safety of educational institutions, he said. Of these funds, 243 million – to provide specialized security for more than 400 institutions – kindergartens, schools and additional education in the Yaroslavl region. Another 260 million rubles. – for equipping warning systems, repair and replacement of fences. RUB 14 million – to ensure anti-terrorist protection of objects of out-of-town organizations for children’s recreation and their rehabilitation, the governor listed.

Evraev also spoke about the construction of new schools and kindergartens in Yaroslavl and districts of the region, noting that projects for the integrated development of territories and the participation of investors could become a serious help to the region in this.

A source close to the administration of the Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev says that they reacted “quietly” to the innovations in KPI. “School security has long been established due to the border nature of the region. The number of places in schools will increase dramatically with the introduction of new facilities soon. Therefore, you don’t have to worry too much about the value of these indicators, ”said the source of Vedomosti.

The only thing that can raise questions is the availability of schools and kindergartens for children with disabilities, since there is a lot of old fund in the region, which was created without taking into account these requirements, and its adaptation to them is costly both from a financial and time point of view, he clarified He.

Requirements for ensuring the safety of educational institutions have always been presented, only now they are included in the performance criteria, said Alexei Didenko, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government. The question is whether the subjects will have enough funds for their implementation – as a result, the cost of work related to the implementation of various GOSTs and standards may rise, he believes.

Safety standards should be uniform throughout the country, but whether it is necessary to “lower” responsibility for their implementation at the regional level is “a very controversial issue”, primarily because of the different levels of budgetary provision of the subjects, Didenko told Vedomosti.

“The addition of new indicators is a natural, albeit somewhat belated reaction to school safety problems and high-profile tragic incidents,” political analyst Rostislav Turovsky believes. But meeting these requirements is not easy – only wealthy regions will be able to meet them, he said. On a regional scale, security services for educational institutions require considerable budgetary funds, so the governors “will have to get out.”

Another consequence of the introduction of new KPIs is new grounds for the resignation of regional leaders. In the regular course of events, according to the political scientist, the “center” is aware that it is not easy to fulfill the criteria for efficiency – successful regions are encouraged, while the rest are not punished. But in this particular situation, in the event of tragic episodes, there is a new risk of gubernatorial resignations, Turovsky told Vedomosti.

Not all of the existing performance evaluation criteria depend directly on the governors, political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov notes. For example, the state of the environment strongly depends on the starting conditions in the region, whether local businesses have funds for treatment facilities, etc. “These criteria should influence the adoption of individual local decisions, for example, on financing industry programs, but not on personnel policy – moreover, the government is not involved in the dismissal and appointment of governors,” he told Vedomosti.

Vinogradov is sure that indicators for evaluating the work of the authorities exist in order to indicate “underfulfillment, not overfulfillment.” The number of performance criteria should ideally not exceed 3-5, he says, otherwise the idea of ​​priorities “breaks”. “The larger the number of KPIs, the higher the likelihood that the criterion remains the same – “like / dislike”, and then numerous KPIs are used to rationalize this emotion,” Vinogradov believes.