Legal regulation of public administration of education and science

The object of the research is the peculiarities of public administration of education and science in foreign countries, in particular, the experience of three European countries ranked in the top ten according to the results of the international survey PISA-2018: Estonia, Finland and Poland. The main content is considered the experience of building a system of educational management on democratic basis, in cooperation between government bodies and society. It is determined that education in the studied countries is one of the priorities of the state and society. The methodological basis of the research consists of comparative legal and systemic analysis, formal legal method, method of interpretation, hermeneutic method and methods of analysis and synthesis. Similar approaches to administration and financing were identified in the conclusions. A trend characteristic of all countries is clarified: the state guarantees free education, including science, and at the same time ensures equal access to quality education and science. Also, the optimal mechanisms of economic support of education, science and the main sources of financing specific to each country were defined.