There is a shortfall of ₴40 million for school meals in Mykolaiv: a tender is due to be announced by the end of July
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- Julia LukyanenkoReporter
There is a shortfall of 40 million hryvnias for school meals in Mykolaiv. Photo: NikVesti archiveAdditional funding is required for school meals in Mykolaiv, as well as for nursery schools. There is a shortfall of 40.88 million hryvnias for the last four months of the year. A tender is due to be announced by the end of July.
This was revealed today, 8 July, at a meeting of the executive committee, according to NikVesti.
School meals are funded through co-financing from the local and state budgets.
«In general secondary education institutions, we have also run out of funds and our contract has expired. We will need to announce a new tender by the end of July at the latest. We also need funds to organise school meals in general secondary education institutions from 1 September to 1 January — 40.88 million hryvnias,» said Hanna Lychko, head of the education department.
She explained that, from 1 September, the approach to using the state subsidy for school meals has changed.
«Whereas until the end of this academic year the split was 70:30 — with 30 per cent coming from the local budget — from 1 September, school meals in general secondary education institutions will be provided under a different approach. The state subsidy will be used exclusively for foodstuffs, with everything else coming from the city budget. Therefore, funding from the local budget for general secondary education institutions will be slightly increased. Food costs will account for 66–67 per cent of the total cost of services, with the remaining 33–34 per cent to be covered by the local budget,» noted Hanna Lychko.
As a reminder, the executive committee approved the allocation of 60 million hryvnias from Mykolaiv’s budget for meals in nurseries. These funds are to be taken from the guarantee obligations that the city provides for utility companies taking out loans. The decision to allocate these funds is now due to be approved by the Mykolaiv City Council on 9 July.
Budget shortfall
It should be recalled that at the Mykolaiv City Council session on 28 May, it was reported that by the end of 2026, the city would be short of almost 150 million hryvnias for school meals. Of this amount, over 109 million hryvnias are required for nurseries, over 33 million hryvnias for co-funding school meals, and a further 7 million hryvnias for special schools and vocational education institutions.
At the time, city councillors appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada, requesting that additional funding be allocated to Mykolaiv from the state budget.
At the end of June, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine refused Mykolaiv’s request for 150 million hryvnias to organise meals in educational institutions. The ministry explained that these expenditure items for nurseries and vocational education institutions should be funded from the local authority budget, and also highlighted the growth in the city’s budget revenue.
On 1 July, the Government allocated a grant of 187.5 million hryvnias to fund school meals for pupils in the Mykolaiv region between September and November 2026.
Earlier, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that Mykolaiv’s 2026 budget was a «survival budget» and did not cover all the community’s needs. According to him, the city lacks the funds to implement the state-initiated pay rise for teachers, to pay for utilities, to repair roads and to cover other expenditure.
Back at the start of the year, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported that the Ministry of Finance would analyse Mykolaiv’s financial situation to assess the city’s need for additional funding. At the same time, he emphasised that the final decision depends not only on the Ministry of Finance’s calculations, but also on the political will of parliament.
