Balarin, M. y Saavedra, M. (2021). Los caminos encontrados del financiamiento y la descentralización educativa en el Perú. En: Guadalupe, C. La educación peruana más allá del Bicentenario: nuevos rumbos (pp. 347-360). Universidad del Pacífico. 

In the early 2000s, Peru opted to establish a decentralized public management system. The Ley General de Educación of 2003 took up this commitment and established the guidelines for the decentralized management of education. In the 15 years that have followed, although there has been a process of transferring functions to decentralized management bodies, the processes of public educational financing have moved in the opposite direction: that of an increasing recentralization of decision making and control of the educational budget.

This essay seeks to reflect on these opposing trends. To this end, we will analyze some of the main characteristics of the educational financing system in the country and contrast them with the trajectory of the decentralization process of educational management. The discussion will be complemented with information gathered through interviews with regional and local actors from a number of regions regarding the current functioning of the educational financing system and the way it impacts on decentralized educational management.