Huvudmännen i bidragsdjungeln – En kritisk studie av de riktade statsbidragens relevans och upplägg.

Sammanfattning: In recent times there have been a growing public discussion in Sweden regarding targeted contributions from the state to the schools. The principals from municipalities all over the country have been letting their voices be heard that they are not pleased with how the current system is set up. An overwhelming administrative work and endless terms attributed to these contributions are just some of the arguments made on this side for replacing the current system with a new one, centered around more general contributions. The state’s arguments in favour of the existence of the targeted contribution are lesser known, however. By analysing documents capturing both the municipalities and the state we aim to shed light on how the different sides approach the phenomenon of targeted contributions. The choice of method for this is the analytical tool of Carol Bacchi, in which she develops a set of questions to expose underlying representations of a problem: What’s the problem represented to be? . Through this method, we find that that although they both share a lot of the same views on the problematic consequences of these targeted contributions, they differ in how the solution is best presented.