Independent schools with serious shortcomings are regularly reported. This may involve tax funds being spent on things unrelated to school operations, or the school systematically skimping on teaching, premises or equipment.
Now investigator Joakim Stymne has submitted final proposals on how the conditions can be tightened. The final report proposes, among other things, that a principal who mismanaged the business be banned from expanding for a period of time. In serious cases, the ban can last for several years.
No go-ahead
It is also proposed that municipalities be required to express their views on the consequences of establishing independent schools. If a municipality sees obvious problems, the Swedish School Inspectorate will not give the go-ahead.
It is not a municipal veto but a statement. The School Inspectorate makes the decision. However, it will be a very important source of information, Stymne says.
Previously, in an interim report in the spring of 2025, Stymne proposed, among other things, a ban on profit withdrawals for the first five years after a new establishment or change of ownership, and that an independent school owner should not be able to receive government grants to improve school quality while at the same time withdrawing profits.
With these proposals, there will continue to be a diversity of principals who want to run schools, meaning a continued vibrant independent school sector, he says, and continues:
But it will become significantly less attractive for actors who are unable to run schools, or who are trying to make a profit, to compromise on quality.
The legislative amendments are proposed to enter into force on January 1, 2028.
“Not for the stock market”
Minister of Education Simona Mohamsson says there are built-in problems in today's independent school system.
We can't have it the way it is now. School is a place for children, not for the stock market.
Anyone who repeatedly has serious deficiencies should neither be able to start nor buy new schools, she says.
The government has talked about a "complete renovation of the independent school system", but the aim has been to bring about stricter conditions, not a total ban on profit-taking and for-profit independent schools, i.e. those owned by limited companies.
However, the Liberals have taken another step in their reexamination of profit interests in the independent school sector. At the party congress in November, the party hammered through a plan to phase out and eventually stop company-owned independent schools. Whether anything like this will come to fruition is highly unclear.
Anna Lena Wallström/TT
Niklas Svahn/TT
Facts: Independent preschools and schools
TT
Around 423,000 children and students attend independent preschools, primary schools or upper secondary schools.
Of all preschool children, 22 percent attend an independent preschool.
Of all primary school students, 16 percent attend an independent school.
Of all upper secondary school students, just over a third attend independent upper secondary schools.
The majority (74 percent) of the children/students in independent preschools or schools attend a school run by a limited company.
Source: SOU 2025:123
