While the Ministry of Education says the state and local governments contribute roughly equally to education, in Tartu the city provides 60 percent of funding, compared to the state's 40 percent. Over the past five years, Tartu's education spending has increased by nearly 45 percent.

"Anything included in the curriculum must be free for students and that's the case in Tartu. In recent years, the local government has made substantial additional contributions, covering, for example, the salaries of some support specialists and providing IT resources. Our latest procurement, which covered all Tartu schools, totaled €800,000. One example is transportation for swimming lessons. Since most schools use the Aura pool and we need to ensure students can get there and back during the school day, coordinated transport is essential. For our school alone, that cost €6,041 over six months," said Jüri Sasi, director of Tartu Forselius School.

Parents are not charged extra for mandatory swimming lessons. However, for ice skating — another activity supported by the city — parents must pay for skate rentals. Funding for other enrichment activities comes from writing grant applications or using additional city or state support, such as the Culture Backpack (Kultuuriranits) initiative, which subsidizes participation in cultural events. Despite this, school principals say field trips outside the city, especially into nature, are becoming increasingly rare due to budget constraints.

"Whether it's visiting a nature education center, a farm or learning about food production, students in Tartu are getting fewer of these experiences. Of course, the more we can provide, the better, but at some point, practical limits come into play. If you ask whether more money is needed, the answer is always yes. But at some point, schools have to make reasonable choices," said Enn Ööpik, principal of Tartu Mart Reiniku School.

In larger cities, many enrichment opportunities are located near schools. But in rural areas, like Osula School in Võru County, students travel about 20 minutes for swimming lessons and trips to the theater in Tartu can take up to an hour each way not counting transport costs.

"Transportation is a real issue for rural schools. Our annual swimming-related expenses average about €3,500, with transport alone costing around €1,000. We're fortunate to have a school bus, which helps us keep costs down. Other schools in the municipality may not be as lucky," said Anti Ossis, director of Osula Basic School.

The school doesn't have a dedicated science lab, so one trip to the Ahhaa Science Center [in Tartu] is incorporated into the curriculum. The local government provides each class with €200 annually. According to the school director, while the Culture Backpack is a great help, it falls short when transport costs and theater ticket prices are factored in.

"The state gives us €9.60 per student, but a theater ticket costs €14. So we do ask parents for a small contribution for enrichment activities. Honestly, parents appreciate that we take students to the theater, concerts or movies, but state support for the Culture Backpack should be increased — it's not enough. Schools simply don't have the money to cover the rest of the ticket price," Ossis said.

When asked by "Aktuaalne kaamera" to comment on school funding shortfalls, the Ministry of Education and Research declined to offer a ministerial response, saying it was not a political issue. Instead, the ministry's position was outlined by Ülle Matsin, head of general education policy. She said cases like Gustav Adolf High School, where parents are asked to pay for school-related activities, come up every year. One example is charging for theater trips that are followed by graded assignments. Matsin acknowledged that access to enrichment activities varies across Estonia, but said that school operators must carefully plan for curriculum-related costs.

"If a theater visit is part of the language and literature curriculum and is supported by preparatory and follow-up lessons, then the cost must come out of the school budget," Matsin said.

One of the most significant curriculum-related expenses for schools is purchasing textbooks and workbooks. State funding for this has remained unchanged for more than a decade, forcing schools to make increasingly tough choices about what they can afford.

"Looking at the way prices increase by 40 to 50 cents per unit each year, we're forced to make very specific decisions. We now plan to use textbooks for seven to eight years before replacing them. For grades five through nine, we've already largely stopped using workbooks. Just yesterday, we were crunching numbers for grades one through four and based on how much material costs have risen, we might have to stop ordering the fourth-grade math workbook too — something we've used until now — just to stay within budget," said Ööpik.

Sasi added that the rapid pace of change in recent years has made many textbooks outdated. "We really need more funding to get newer textbooks into schools sooner. Paper prices have nearly doubled over the past decade. If we could raise funding from €57 to €75 per student, we could manage," he said.

At Osula School, which has about 150 students, class sizes vary significantly from year to year. Some years, the school gains just over 10 students; in others, nearly 20. This fluctuation significantly affects the number of textbooks and workbooks needed. To save money, schools and libraries have started exchanging books depending on who has extra and who needs more.

"Today, collaboration between schools helps optimize textbook purchases. We trade with each other. Workbook use is declining year after year. As a principal, I'm now left wondering how much we'll have to cut from teachers' teaching material orders," Ossis said.

Matsin acknowledged that state support for textbooks and workbooks has been stagnant for a long time. As a result, she said school leaders need to plan textbook use strategically. While there are no plans to increase state support, the ministry does intend to give local governments more freedom in how they allocate funding.

"Negotiations have begun with municipalities to move educational support — currently provided for specific, labeled purposes — into their general budgets. That would give local governments much more flexibility in deciding how much funding to allocate and where. For example, if a school is doing well in terms of teaching materials or has taken a different approach and reduced costs, the local government could redirect those savings to schools that need more support," Matsin said.

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