Recent changes to the budgetary basis of schools in Russia has received a mixed response from parents, with a variety of views on whether the quality of education is being improved. Reductions in state support for preschool education raises questions about the ability of less affluent parents to prepare their children for first grade. Perhaps more than any other system, the system of education is going through continual reforms that affect everyone in an educational institution. The year 2012 was not exempted from such reforms. In addition to the new Law on Education, the changes affected the conversion of budget-funded institutions to new forms, optimization of the number of educational institutions, the new form of enrolling children in the first grade, and so on. In this article, the authors aim to clarify, on the basis of available empirical data, how these changes are being perceived and how successfully families are adapting to the constantly changing rules.