The subject of this research is the normative legal acts of the Russian Federation that regulate the procedure for public procurement in education. The objectives of the article are to identify problematic issues and features of public procurement of educational services, as well as to formulate directions for the development of legal regulation of high-quality and the conclusion of government contracts in the field of educational activities in Russia. The study revealed the need to optimize the legal support of public procurement in the educational sphere. The study used the chisquare test to test statistical hypotheses. The study found that the current procurement system does not fully contribute to the economic growth of the state. Improving the efficiency of the procurement system is hindered by the following factors: 1) the complexity and instability of procurement legislation. In total, during the entire period of the Law No. 44-FZ in force, 80 federal laws were adopted, amending it; 2) efforts are aimed at improving the procurement procedure, and not at achieving procurement efficiency and ensuring the proper quality of goods, works, services. Despite the upward trend in the volume of public procurement and the orientation of the procurement system towards increasing the efficiency of procurement through increased competition, during the entire period of operation of the contract system, there have been no significant changes in the indicators of competition and savings. A significant share of purchases from a single supplier remains, there is practically no competition. In this regard, it is advisable to optimize the procedure for holding tenders and auctions, clarifying cases of purchases from a single supplier in the field of education. Conclusions are formulated that the practical recommendations