The Right to a Trial When Applying for Public Funds for Educational Tasks in the Light of the Evolution of the Case Law of Administrative Courts

Abstract

In the modern history of the Polish administrative court system, an important legal issue that still needs to be clearly resolved is the jurisdiction of courts over acts and actions taken by the public administration other than administrative decisions or rulings. This issue arises in the area of the process of applying for public funds for the performance of educational tasks by public and non-public units of the system of education (with regard to the so-called education subsidies provided from the budgets of local and regional government units), as well as in the area of receiving from the state budget the educational part of the general subvention by local and regional government units themselves. The dispute concerning the jurisdiction over the determination and transfer of education subsidies, which started with the dispute over the legal nature (civil or administrative law) of the relationship arising from the education subsidy, continued for more than 20 years and was only brought to an end by the 2016 amendment to the Act on the system of education. In contrast, the analogous dispute concerning jurisdiction of courts in cases involving the determination of the value and transfer of the educational part of the general subvention to local government units actually remains unresolved to this day. This paper presents an analysis of the evolution of the case law of administrative courts in the cases mentioned above. The primary purpose of this analysis was to formulate conclusions de lege ferenda, the consideration of which would lead to the real and effective exercise of their rights (including the constitutional right to a trial) by the bodies that run public or non-public units of the system of education, as well as by local government units.