Appendix 5: Percentage of Boarding Students Receiving Living
5.2 Rural Compulsory Education Finance Monitoring System
5.2.3 Monitoring Contents and Indicator System
The most important objective of a compulsory educationfinance monitoring system is to collect relevant information on compulsory education finance at the micro-level, and such information is also very important to evaluate whether the policy achieved its predetermined objectives. Here, we design a monitoring system for the fund guarantee mechanism for rural compulsory education: (1) whether the new mechanism is implemented according to requirements of the policy; (2) whe- ther the governmental appropriation, the share-mechanism, per student appropria- tion standard, and appropriation date are carried out according to the requirements
of the policy; (3) whether the new mechanism benefits the target groups; (4) what problems exist in the implementation of the new mechanism and what caused these problems. If we can find out the answers to these questions, we will give policy suggestions to improve and perfect the new mechanism.
According to the contents of the new mechanism, we have designed monitoring indicators for Two Exemptions, One Subsidy (TEOS), non-personnel expenditures, school building repair and maintenance, and teacher salary to monitor the gov- ernment’s behaviors. Theoretically, it is also required to obtain fundamental information from the schools, such as enrollments, beneficiaries of TEOS, the teachers and other staff, school buildings, and others. In this study, only monitoring indicators for government were designed.
5.2.3.1 “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy” Policy
The TEOS policy is one core content of the new mechanism. As early as 2001, the State Council required that governments at various levels should implement and perfect a student assistance system in compulsory education in order to mitigate the burden of indigent students. Meanwhile, the central government commenced a pilot system to provide free textbooks for primary and junior secondary school students from poor families in the poverty-stricken regions, which was the starting point of TEOS. In recent years, under the background of the“people oriented”concept and constructing a harmonious society, the TEOS policy has been developed rapidly, especially the coverage and assistance standards.
To ensure that the policy benefits all targeted groups, the governments at various levels should input sufficient funds pursuant to the share mechanism and their responsibilities. The objective of monitoring indicators for TEOS is to monitor whether the executive bodies perform their responsibilities. The indicators mainly focus on the following: the number of beneficiaries, assistance standards (i.e.
appropriation standard), appropriation date, and the use of various appropriations.
This information will determine whether governments at various levels assumed their responsibilities, whether the fund is sufficient, and whether the targeted stu- dents receive the assistance in time.
1. Miscellaneous Fee Exemption
According to the provision of the new mechanism, in western China since 2006, the students in compulsory education in rural areas are exempted from miscellaneous fees. The expenditure for the miscellaneous fee exemption is jointly funded by the central and the local government at the proportion of 8:2 in western China and 6:4 in central China. In eastern China, the proportion is determined by thefinancial ability of the local government. Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai directly under the central government should shoulder allfinancial responsibilities.
We designed four indicators to monitor the miscellaneous fee exemption: the number of beneficiaries, the standard of miscellaneous fee exemption, the amount of expenditures for the miscellaneous fee exemption, and the appropriation date.
These indicators are grouped by the type and location of the school (see Table5.2).
2. Free Textbooks
In 2006, free textbooks were provided to indigent students in rural compulsory education, and from autumn 2007, free textbooks were available to all students in rural compulsory education. According to the Notice on Adjusting Fund Guarantee Mechanism for Rural Compulsory Education jointly issued by Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education in 2007, the requirement for the provision of free textbooks to all students in rural compulsory education com- menced in the autumn semester 2007. The textbooks for the national curriculum are provided by the central government and the textbook of the local curriculum by the local government.
Table 5.2 Monitoring indicators for miscellaneous fee exemptions
Monitoring indicators Primary schools Junior secondary schools
Urban Town Rural Urban Town Rural
Enrollment (student)
Standard for exempting tuition and miscellaneous fees (Yuan per student a year)
The amount (ten thousand Yuan) The budgetary
appropriation from upper governmenta
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student a year) The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date The budgetary appropriation of local government
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student a year) The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date
aUpper-level appropriation includes appropriations to the local government by all upper-level governments
We also designed four indicators for free textbooks: the number of students receiving free textbooks, the appropriation standard for free textbook, the amount of expenditure for free textbooks, and the appropriation date (see Table5.3).
Table 5.3 Monitoring indicators for free textbooks
Monitoring indicators Primary schools Junior secondary
schools
Urban Town Rural Urban Town Rural Enrollment (student)
Standard for free textbook (Yuan per student per year)
Total fund (ten thousand Yuan) National
curriculum Central government
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year) The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation Appropriation
amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date Local
curriculum
Upper-level appropriationa
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year) The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date Local
appropriation
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year) The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date
aUpper-level appropriation includes appropriations to the local government by all upper-level governments
3. Living Subsidy for Indigent Boarding Students
The living subsidy program focuses on indigent boarding students in rural compulsory education. Because there is no uniform standard for the living subsidy of poor boarding students, the standard varies in different regions. The living subsidy standard in most provinces is about 1 Yuan per student per day, or even less than 1 Yuan. It commenced in the autumn semester of 2007 to increase the minimum living subsidy standard to 2 Yuan per primary school student per day and 3 Yuan per junior secondary school student per day. The central gov- ernment provides 50 % of the fund for provinces in western and central China.
The local government undertakes the other 50 %. If the standard implemented by local governments in western and central China is higher than the minimum standard, the excess fund needed will be borne by the local government. At the same time, the central government requires the local government in eastern China to strengthen the poor boarding student living subsidy policy; the funds needed should be borne by the local government. The central government will provide a reasonable reward for these provinces and municipalities.
Providing a living subsidy for indigent boarding students was the responsibility of local governments. There is big difference among the standard of living subsidy implemented by local governments before the autumn of 2007. Until then, there was no clear share mechanism to provide the funds for the imple- mentation of this policy. Therefore, the monitoring indicators for the indigent boarding student living subsidy not only include the number of the beneficiaries, appropriation and subsidy standard, the amount of expenditure for living sub- sidy, and appropriation data, but also the fund-sharing mechanism (see Table5.4).
The major objective of the TEOS policy is to mitigate the burden of the farmers.
It is also necessary to collect information at the individual level if we want to know the actual effect of this policy. However, it is difficult to make the students and their parents become participants of the monitoring system, and we should make more efforts to resolve this difficulty in the future.
5.2.3.2 Non-personnel Expenditure
Since 2001, the State has issued relevant policies that require local governments to determine reasonable non-personnel expenditure standards and gradually improve the non-personnel expenditure guarantee level for rural primary and junior sec- ondary schools. These policies also clarified the responsibilities of the government at each level. To improve the non-personnel expenditure guarantee level for rural compulsory education, the new mechanism requires that rural primary and junior secondary school should begin to implement school budgets and provincial gov- ernments should determine non-personnel expenditure appropriation standards. By 2008, the non-personnel expenditure standard for rural primary and junior sec- ondary schools in each province (region and municipality) should increase to the
standard determined before the beginning of the autumn semester in 2005 by provincial government. By 2009, the central government will determine the national standard of non-personnel expenditure for primary and junior secondary school. If the standard determined by each province (district, municipality) is lower than the national one, 50 % of the gap should be eliminated in that year and should be jointly funded by central and local governments according to the share-mechanism for miscellaneous fee exemptions.
Non-personnel expenditure is an important requirement for school operation, and the amount of non-personnel expenditure has a direct influence on whether the Table 5.4 Monitoring indicators for indigent boarding student living subsidy
Monitoring indicator Primary schools Junior secondary
schools
Urban Town Rural Urban Town Rural Definition of indigent student: student from
the family with per capita income lower than Yuan
Enrollment (student) Of which: indigent students
Boarding students
Students from agriculture and forest Reflow student number
Dropouts
The standard of living subsidy (Yuan per student per year)
Total amount (ten thousand Yuan) Upper-level
appropriationa
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year)
The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date Local
government appropriation
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year)
The number of beneficiaries (student) Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date
aUpper-level appropriation includes appropriations to the local government by all upper-level governments
teaching activities and other activities are carried out successfully. The guarantee level of non-personnel expenditure for rural compulsory education is determined by the non-personnel expenditure appropriation standard. The other factor that deter- mines how many non-personnel expenditures a school can get is the school scale.
The non-personnel expenditure is jointly funded by the central and local govern- ments on the basis of the sharing-mechanism miscellaneous fee exemption.
Therefore, the monitoring indicators for non-personnel expenditures consist of the number of enrollments, appropriation standard or non-personnel expenditure stan- dard, sharing-mechanism, and appropriation date (see Table5.5).
To monitor non-personnel expenditure guarantee levels, we should know whe- ther the non-personnel expenditure is adequate for a school to provide enough required activities and curriculums to students. However, this is a difficult job. In the future, we should spend much time and effort in overcoming this difficulty.
Table 5.5 Monitoring indicators for non-personnel expenditure
Monitoring indicators Primary schools Junior secondary schools
Urban Town Rural Urban Town Rural Enrollment (student)
The non-personnel expenditure standard (Yuan per student per year)
The amount (ten thousand Yuan) Upper-level
Appropriationa
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year)
The number of student (student)
Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date Local
government Appropriation
Appropriation standard (Yuan per student per year)
The number of student (student)
Appropriation amount (ten thousand Yuan) Appropriation date
aUpper-level appropriation includes appropriations to the local government by all upper-level governments
5.2.3.3 School Building Repair and Maintenance
Rural primary and junior secondary school buildings were repaired and maintained mainly by various national special projects before the new mechanism, such as the National Compulsory Education Project for Poverty Stricken Regions in 1995 and the National Dilapidated School Building Renovation Project for Rural Primary School and Junior Secondary School in 2001. However, these projects are not a long-term and stable guarantee mechanism. The new mechanism requires that the central government should measure the cost of school building repair and main- tenance. The central government affords 50 % of the cost for every province, region, and municipality in western and central China. In eastern China, provinces and municipalities shoulder all the costs. However, the central government will give some rewards according to theirfinancial ability and outcome achieved in school building repair and maintenance. The new mechanism is a long-term and stable mechanism. To make it more effective, it is necessary to monitor the fund demand, fund resource, and outcomes (see Table5.6).
Table 5.6 Monitoring indicators for school building repair and maintenance
Monitoring indicators Year××
The totalfloor areas of school building (m2)
of which: thefloor areas of dilapidated school building (m2) the areas of D Grade dilapidated school building (m2) Totalfloor areas needed to be repaired and maintained (m2) The total fund needed (in ten thousand Yuan)
School building Thefloor area of new school
building (m2)
The cost of new school building (Yuan)
Thefloor area of repair and maintenance (m2)
The cost of repair and maintenance (Yuan) Thefloor area of renovation (m2)
The cost of renovation (Yuan)
The appropriation standard for repair and maintenance (Yuan per square meter)
Upper government Local government The total appropriation for repair and
maintenance (ten thousand Yuan)
Upper government Local government
Appropriation date Upper government
Local government
5.2.3.4 Teachers’Salaries
During the middle and late 1990s, the local government delayed paying salaries for teachers in rural areas. Thefinancial ability of the local government was weakened due to tax-shared reforms, tax-fee reform, and other changes offinance system, so the local governments, especially county governments and township governments, could not afford teachers’salaries. In 2001, the State Council issued the Decision on Basic Education Reform and Development, which proposed a county-centered system. Under this system, the county government takes the responsibility for salary and personnel management for rural education. The problem of delaying the teachers’salaries was resolved in time.
Since the new mechanism was implemented, the rural primary and junior sec- ondary schools have lost the right to charge fees to students. Meanwhile, various funds must be used for predetermined purposes, which must not be paid for teachers’allowances. Therefore, many local governments and schools are not able to pay for teachers’ allowances, causing the actual income of the teachers to decrease. In addition, some local governments are unable to implement the“Three Insurances, One Fund”(i.e. medical insurance, pension insurance, unemployment insurance, and housing fund) for rural teachers, while such expenditures are ful- filled by charging fees. If these problems cannot be resolved in a short time, teachers’ teams will become unstable and the effect of the miscellaneous fee exemption policy will be discounted. Hence, the indicators we designed for mon- itoring teachers’salaries focus on a teacher’s actual income (see Table5.7).