This paper addresses the development of the education system in the Russian Empire during the pre-revolutionary period. Its geographic scope is confined to Tiflis Governorate, and its chronological scope covers the period of integration of the system of public education in Tiflis Governorate into the all-Russian system of public education and its centralization -- 1802-1871 (this includes the "departmental" period, when there was in operation the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education (1817-1824)). The work provides a short analysis of key sources on the issue of the development of the public education system in pre-revolutionary Russia, a brief historiographical survey, an outline of Tiflis Governorate's geographic, economic, and ethnic characteristics, and a summary of key issues relating to the topic's periodization. The authors' conclusion is that the process of integration of the system of public education in Tiflis Governorate into the all-Russian system and its centralization was completed by 1871. Throughout the country, there now was in operation a network of educational institutions with uniform standards in place with regard to school administration and curricula. This made it possible to move on to the next stage in the process of spreading literacy in the outlying regions of the Russian Empire -- to enable more of its citizens to receive public education.