Optimization of general education networks structure in rural areas of the Russian Federation and the Samara Region from the late 1990s to 2020

This paper discusses the optimization of rural educational networks structure in the Samara Region and Russia from the late 1990s to 2020. Documents of the federal level that contributed to the development of the country’s educational system, including the development of a general education network in the countryside, are presented. The dynamics of changes in the number of general educational organizations in the country in comparison with the number of schoolchildren for the period from 1995/1996 academic year to 2019/2020 academic year is given. The author compares approaches to the optimization of rural general education network structure used in the experiment on restructuring the network of general educational institutions located in rural areas which was conducted in the 2002/2003 and 2003/2004 academic years and during the implementation of complex projects for education modernization by the Russian regions in 2007–2009. On the example of the Samara Region, differences and similar moments of rural general education network structure optimization in this region with all-Russian trends are considered. The basic regional principles of optimization are revealed. Models of changes in the structural elements of the general education network of the Samara Region in comparison with the models used in the framework of the experiment on restructuring the network of rural schools are presented.