The school provider (Swedish: huvudman) is the organisation that holds the legal responsibility for running a school. In Sweden there are two provider types: municipal and independent (Swedish: enskild, i.e. privately run).
Municipal provider
The municipality is the provider for municipal schools. The municipality is responsible for ensuring that all children in the municipality have access to schooling, regardless of whether they choose a municipal or independent school. The municipality finances schools through tax revenue and allocates a per-student voucher (skolpeng).
Independent provider
Independent schools are run by private actors — limited companies, foundations, economic associations or non-profit organisations. They are financed through the student voucher (skolpeng) from the student's home municipality, on the same terms as municipal schools. Independent schools must be approved by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen).
Provider and corporate group
Many independent providers are part of corporate groups — groups of companies with a common parent company. Skolkoll identifies corporate group affiliation via data from the Swedish Companies Registration Office (Bolagsverket), providing insight into which schools are part of the same ownership structure.
Comparison
In the debate about school choice, municipal and independent schools are often compared. Statistics show that independent schools as a group have somewhat higher merit values — but the difference is largely explained by student composition. See the analysis of independent vs municipal schools for more.