As well as many governments of the states of former East block, Government of the Russian Federation since 1993 has taken course on minimization of sizes of the education system state support. From year to year, at forming of the state budget both legislative and executive branches of authority broke norms of the current legislation (Article 40 of the Law "On education"), providing guaranteed allocation of financial funds on education at a rate of not less than 10 % of the national income. Actually the financing education system was only 60-70 % of necessary sizes. On implementation of development programs of education system the funds allocated incommensurably less, as they were not sufficient even on maintaining of normal operation. As a result the rates of reorganizations essentially lagged for from planned, a burden of unsolved problems, from year to year, was accumulated, the consequences of short-sighted and erratic solutions were revealed.

In public sector of education the critical situation with paying of salaries to the teachers, allocation of funds on the stipend, grants-in-aid and grants to the students is formed. The funds on repair and maintenance of buildings practically were not allocated. The debts of educational establishments for paying municipal services, first of all of electric power, grew; the equipment was not updated, the heaviest situation with providing students by free textbooks in necessary volumes is found.

In especially difficult conditions the schools and professional schools located in poor labor-excessive regions, small cities and countryside occurred.

The state schools and professional schools located in regions-donors and large cities, including Moscow and St.-Petersburg, have found in a more favorable financial situation. In privileged conditions were private schools, where the parents of students could bring in a rather high tuition. However, list of such schools is extremely small.

The arising financial situation could not but lead to increasing the tendency of an inequality in implementation of the citizens rights to receiving of qualitative general compulsory education. The situation reflects growing public concern. So, in the Survey of national educational policy of the Russian Federation [30], prepared by the group of experts of Organization for economic co-operation and development in 1998, this problem has received special attention. The sphere of initial vocational training also suffered great losses, that was caused by sharp cutting of vacancies in the labor market, rupture of industrial connections, breaching old management system of initial professional training, breach of long-term connections with firms - employers.

All this could not but lead to increasing of social tension, first of all in a teacher's community. In 1994 –1996s the tide of the teachers protest actions reaching up to go on strikes has began to increase. It is necessary to mark, that the Russian teachers protested even not so much concerning the nonpaying salaries (though the fact itself is a weighty reason for strikes), as concerning a distress of the majority of state schools and their students, impossibility to create normal conditions for the educational process. The protest actions were supported by trade unions and the public.

The perplexity by a negative course of events development in the education field has found reflection in activity of State Duma, initialized in May, 1996 the parliamentary hearings with a rather significant name - "Education and national security".

Appearing on hearings stated [57], that the heavy state of the education system of Russia directly is affected with bases of its national security. It was marked, that the complex of the negative tendencies exhibited in the field of education, is the result of unreasoned, in many respects mistaken policy of the Government.

The conclusion about necessity of its basic modification on a series of key parameters was drawn. The parameters are follows:

• guarantee on public, free and qualitative general secondary education and initial vocational training;
• increasing of the part of expenditures on education in the budget of the country;
• creation of the guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Law "On education" equal conditions of access to education, preventing of social stratification in terms of access to education, banning the extension of paid services within the framework of compulsory education;
• creation of equal conditions for development of educational establishments of different forms of ownership, subordination, location for providing legislative guarantees in the field of education;
• development of education as whole complex of learning and education processes, preventing decrease of literacy level, lowering of intellectual and cultural development of citizens.

As a result of parliamentary hearings it was adopted the appeal to the Government of the Russian Federation to take measures intended to improving situation in education area.

The commission for preparation of draft Conception for the next (third) stage of an education system reforming the Government’s order of July 16, 1997 was set up.

Under the draft of this document several groups of the officials with engaging of the scientists, experts, teachers had worked. The final version of the Conception was published in 1997 and had caused rough arguing in a medium of pedagogical public. addressing to appropriate committees of the Federal Convention of the Russian Federation began coming the appeals, where it was specified, that the implementation of the given document would not only improve the heavy situation in education, but on the contrary, can essentially complicate it. The educators required the open comprehensive discussion of the Conception and taking decision-on its implementation. As the result of these appeals, on January 20, 1998 the parliamentary hearings held in Moscow. During these hearings the Recommendations was developed [12, 13], which had a series of the extremely important provisions essential to the future development of a national education system.

• Government of the Russian Federation does not take measures on increasing of education financing, on the contrary, financing of education system from the federal budget for the last three years systematically decreased;
• Government of the Russian Federation, several ministries and departments have begun implementation of the education reforming concept in terms of reorganization of educational establishments by administrative methods, not counting requirements of the current legislation on education;
• during the last years financial funds on capital construction and repair of educational establishments practically are not allocated;
• financial support from the federal budget for paying public services is sharply reduced;
• Government of the Russian Federation self-removed of the responsibility for publishing textbooks necessary to education system;
• the number of children and adolescence who have appeared outside of education system increased that promotes growth of criminality;
• payment and prestige of pedagogical and scientific staff and their labor falls;
• size of paid teaching and paid educational services in state educational establishments continuously increased;
• under threat of loss the unique experience of a national education system is found.

The participants of parliamentary hearings assume that the Law "On education" has opened wide opportunities for reforming of education system and support idea further step-by-step reforming of education system, but thus they are convinced that any stages of reform should be carried out on a legislative basis and according to the Federal program of the development of education.

On the basis of explained the participants of Parliamentary hearings recommend to Government of the Russian Federation:

• postpone discussion this conception of the next education system reform in session of the Russian Federation Government before receiving results of its discussion in the subjects of Federation and on congresses of the education workmen;
• develop specific measures on determination of additional resources of education financing with the purpose of implementation of the legislation on education;
• develop measures program on removal of the education system from financial and economic crisis on the coming two years;
• pay attention to inadmissibility of publishing the normative-legal acts which are not appropriate to the laws of the Russian Federation on education;
• officially send to State Duma new edition of the Federal program of the development of education for the approval it as the federal law.

The recommendations of the parliamentary hearings have rendered the large influence on a further course of moving events: a series of necessary measures for improving financial support of education system was undertaken, the work on creation of the National doctrine of education development and renewal of the Federal program of the development of education become more active. To the present time some authoritative groups of leading scientists and experts in the field of education work under creation of the education National doctrine. In 1998-1999 the refreshed edition of the Federal program of the development of education [24] has remade and passed a stage of public discussion, which was approved by Government of the Russian Federation in July, 1999 and sent to State Duma for the approval as the federal law.

In under-reformed Russia law-relations in the field of education were regulated by the Constitution of the USSR and normative-legal acts of a governmental (departmental) level. It was stipulated by the rather complicated multi-subject and multilevel management of education system depended on State organization of the country.

Modifications in the state-political organization and socio-economic life of Russia have put the problem of providing constitutional right of citizens to education, development and solidifying unified educational space of Russia, improving of quality and broaden of accessibility of educational services granted to educational establishments.

The federal laws in the field of education [5], including the law "On education":

• differentiate the competence and responsibility in the field of education of federal bodies of state authority and state authority bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation;
• regulate within the framework of the established federal competence issues of the relations in the field of education, which should be settled equally by all subjects of the Russian Federation. In this regard the federal laws in the field of education are the laws of a direct operation and are valid at all territory of the Russian Federation;
• introduce the unified establishing norms on issues, which fall to the competence of the subjects of the Russian Federation and according to which the latter realize their own legal regulating in the field of education.

The subjects of the Russian Federation according to their status and competence can approve laws in the field of education and other normative-legal acts which are not contradicting to the federal laws . The laws and other normative-legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the field of education can not limit the rights of physical and juridical persons in comparison with education legislation of the Russian Federation.

Besides this documents, law-relation in the field of education at federal level are regulated by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, other legislative acts: by the Civil code, Family code, tax and customs legislation, legislation in the field of labor and the population employment, its social protection [5].

Except for the legislative acts of a federal level, the activity in the field of education (especially compulsory) is regulated at the subjects of Federation level. A number of the Legislative Conventions of the subjects of Federation already approved their own laws on education. The normative-legal base of a municipal level is formed.

To the number of the important documents regulating law-relations in the federal state, contracts and agreements for differentiation of competence in the field of education are referred to. They are the new form of interrelation of federal management body with state bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation executive power.

The agreements are intended for a realization of flexible policy of maintaining unified poly-cultural and educational space of Russia due to the availability of general substantial blocks. It enables maintaining vertical and through all levels of organization-administrative relations, that especially is important for period of forming of a new, democratic education system management; differentiation and individualizing of work with regions.

The agreements system is one of mechanisms of coordination both coordination of federal and national-regional programs of education development. The agreements play the important role in democratizing and decentralizing education system management and actually are an initial link in construction of a new management system at all levels (federal, regional, municipal).

In 1998 the agreements for cooperation were concluded in the field of education between federal educational bodies and heads of the executive authority of the 57 subjects of Federation..

The practice of development and implementation of the agreements has shown necessity of the more precise approach to understanding of their role as document, explicating and amplifying a basic legislative regulations in terms of functions concrete a joint operation of federal and regional bodies of education management.

The important normative-legal document in the field of education is the state educational standards.

According to Article 7 of the law "On education" in the Russian Federation the state educational standards including federal and national-regional components are set up.

The Russian Federation on behalf of federal bodies of state power with the limits of their competence set up federal components of state educational standards, defining in the compulsory order a obligatory content minimum of basic educational programs, maximum volume of students educational load, requirements to the level of graduates training.

At implementing educational programs for students with deviations in development the special state educational standards can be established.

The order of development, adopting and introduction state educational standards is defined by Government of the Russian Federation.

State educational standard of general education is established by the federal law. State educational standards are developed on a competitive basis and specified on the same basis not less than once per ten years. The competition is declared by the Government of the Russian Federation.

State educational standards are a basis of an objective assessment of educational level and qualification of the graduates irrespective of the forms of education receiving.

With reference to general education the State educational standard of basic general education establishes a mandatory minimum of basic educational programs content, mandatory volume of educational load students, requirements to a level of the pupils training. The draft of the document is prepared and is represented to Government of the Russian Federation. In the field of initial vocational training 237 educational standards of 257, stipulated by the currently in force Enumeration specialties of initial vocational training are approved.

One more important aspect of documents are the Model provisions on educational establishments (for types and kinds) [5]. They are approved by the federal management education body (as of August, 1999 this is the Ministry of Education) and regulate an substantial and organizational basis of their activity. To the present time the activity practically of all education establishments is regulated by this document.

The forming of valuable legislative and normative-legal base in the field of education goes rather actively. However, just now the especially new complicated and not up to the extremity interpreted low-makers and public problem of transitional period - simultaneous validity of legislative and other normative-legal acts approved in different socio-legal conditions, is appeared. Having imposed on legal uncertainty stipulated by gaps in the legislation and ruptures in a legislative vertical, this distinctive feature of transitional period has lead to arising collisions at all levels of a of education legal space: between the federal legislative and normative-legal acts, between the federal legal rules and results of activity of legislative bodies of the subjects of Russian Federation.

To the number of consequences of such condition of matters in an field of legal guarantee of the process of the education system development in Russia it is possible to refer slow apply of the requirements of new legislative and other normative-legal acts in activity of educational establishments, rise of legal collisions between the different legislative and normative-legal acts of a federal level, and also between these acts and results of legislative bodies in the subjects of the Russian Federation and, at last, the citizens’ weak knowledge of their rights in an field of education and slow establishing the practice of their protection with usage of the law means.

The practical lack of the unified regulated legal space in the field of education in Russia not only constrains development of this field, but also brings to nothing Prosecutor’s office activity for supervision of observance of legality, hampers legal proceedings, complicates Bar activity on protection of legal interests of citizens. In the arised situation the legality in the field of education is maintained almost exclusively in the administrative-bureaucratic order, and legislative acts of the field of education frequently remain only as recommendation documents, causing propagation of legal nihilism and selectivity in observance the laws of the Russian Federation in the field of education. All this constrains development of education and creates conditions for infringement of the legal rights and freedoms of citizens, including an inequality of access to educational services, ill-timed and incomplete paying of salaries to pedagogical staff.

It is clear, that these and other problems in many respects are stipulated by a shortage of funds on conducting and codification of legal documents, revealing and elimination of gaps and collisions in them, and also their publishing and spreading. The Ministry of Education publishes the departmental bulletins spread on a subscription basically in educational establishments and bodies of their management, however issue of normative documentation codes counting on a mass audience practically has stopped.

The efforts on setting up the computer databases in the area of mass implantation of the legal rules in the field of education have not yet given the appreciable results. The nation-wide and departmental databases are accessible to a few persons, but commercial ones sometimes have not properly completeness and flexible searching means, require an expert estimation, and the order of their conducting remains as a commercial secret.

The policy which was carried out in the USSR since 1917, was directed at reaching universal literacy of the country population.

The data of an official statistics describing this indicator are given below [35].

Table 21..

Population literacy at the age 9-49
(on the data of the population censuses; in percentage)

Table 22..

Educational level of population
(on the data of the population census of 1989 and population micro-census of 1994)

Traditionally education was enjoyed priority in a system of social values and considerable progress has been made in that area. The achievements of a traditional education system in pre-reformed Russia include:

• effective and accessible system of kindergartens;
• high literacy level;
• providing free- textbooks;
• a largely free education;
• strong performance in the sciences, including special programs for gifted students in physics and mathematics;
• availability of a broad variety of extra-curricular and supplemental education;
• free-meals for children from low-income families.

The condition of the system of pre-school educational establishments is characterized by the following data.

As of beginning of 1998 in Russia 60256 pre-school educational establishments functioned, in which 4 705 954 (4,7 million) children were educated.

Since 1992 the system decreased by 21,7 thousands, the number of children - by 2 millions 630 thousands.

The reduction of the system of pre-school educational establishments and decreasing children contingent, practically in all regions of Russia, is marked.

Table 23.

Pre-school establishments

NOTE. On the beginning of 1998 240,2 thousands children required the placing in pre-school establishments.

Table 24.

Distribution of pre-school establishments by purpose
(on the end of year)