Historical note: the decentralization reforms carried out by Minister of Interior Gaston Defferre in 1982, during Mitterand's first term, handed the management of schools (buildings & logistics but not the curriculum nor the teachers) for:

• the primary schools to the municipalities,

• the middle schools (collèges) to the départements,

• the high schools (lycées) to yet another administrative level: the regions.

That's pretty much how it's been working for the past 30 years. Kind of complicated? Some would argue this is a French cultural trait...