Conference Program

Public education systems are formally designed to guarantee universal access and equal educational opportunities. Yet the actual resources available to schools often depend on a plurality of funding channels. In the Italian context, one of the most debated mechanisms concerns the so-called “voluntary contributions” requested from families. Although formally optional, these contributions frequently finance activities and infrastructures that are central to everyday school life. At the same time, schools increasingly rely on project-based funding and partnerships with external actors to complement public resources.

These dynamics raise a broader question: who actually finances the everyday functioning and enrichment of public schools? If public education is formally funded by the state, the concrete availability of resources often depends on the economic capacity of families and on the ability of schools to mobilize additional funding through projects and partnerships. This leads to a second crucial question: to what extent do territorial inequalities shape the financial resources available to schools?

Constitutional principles guarantees equal access to free public education. If the availability of educational resources increasingly depends on the socio-economic conditions of local communities and on their capacity to mobilize additional financial contributions, these mechanisms may inadvertently reproduce territorial inequalities within the public school system. In such a scenario, schools located in more affluent areas may benefit from a broader set of resources, while schools operating in economically fragile contexts may face structural constraints in sustaining educational activities and opportunities.

This paper investigates these dynamics in the city of Rome by analysing the composition of school resources and their territorial distribution. The research draws on data contained in the Self-Evaluation Reports (RAV – Rapporti di Autovalutazione) produced by Italian schools within the National Evaluation System. These documents include standardized information on voluntary family contributions as well as on the broader composition of school resources, including state funding and financial resources obtained through projects and collaborations with external actors. The study reconstructs the relative weight of different funding sources and explores how schools combine public funding, family contributions and project-based resources to sustain their activities.

The analysis adopts a territorial comparative perspective, focusing on schools located in the different municipalities of Rome. Through spatial comparison and mapping, the research investigates how the balance between public funding, family contributions and project resources varies across different areas of the city. This approach makes it possible to identify patterns of territorial stratification in the economic resources available to schools and to assess whether schools located in socio-economically disadvantaged areas rely on different funding mixes compared to those operating in more affluent contexts.

A qualitative analysis is complemented by qualitative insights from a broader research project conducted in Municipio VI of Rome, one of the most socio-economically fragile districts of the city. Within this project, semi-structured interviews were conducted with school leaders, teachers and representatives of third sector organizations. These qualitative materials help to contextualize the statistical patterns and to better understand how schools operating in vulnerable contexts cope with limited family contributions and mobilize alternative forms of support.