Kultusministerkonferenz
The body is not part of the federal government, and its directives do not immediately become effective, but first will have to be turned into state law.Funded by the states there are a number of KMK offices and committees - there are currently 220 positions based on finance of 50 Million Euro.Other voluntary state conferences are paralleled on the federal level like the Innenministerkonferenz (the assembly of ministers for police and security - executive branch) and Justizministerkonferenz (the assembly of ministers for justice - judicial branch) where federal law overrules state law.In the course of the Förderalismusreform (reform of the responsibilities between federal government and state länder) in the years 2003 to 2006 the structure of the Kultusministerkonferenz was under dispute as well.However, in the last years the KMK was given extra funding to support PISA studies and the reform of the academic system in the Bologna process.