1.4.1 The Inadequacy of Total Expenditures for Rural Compulsory Education Has not Been Resolved
After the implementation of the new mechanisms, the expenditures inputted into rural compulsory education have been improved remarkably. However, total expenditure is still inadequate. Because rural tax-fee reform did not increase the income of grassroots governments, there still exist somefinance gaps for grassroots governments, meaning that thefinancial guarantee of rural compulsory education is still at a low level. Particularly, due to the limitation offinancing in some regions, schools cannot appoint new full-time teachers and only employ temporary teachers whose salaries are lower than full-time teachers.
1.4.2 Teacher Quality and Teacher Training Are Crucial for Further Development of Rural Compulsory Education
Since the implementation of new mechanisms, the operation of rural schools has been guaranteed. However, treatments for teachers need to be resolved urgently.
The salaries of rural teachers are generally lower than of urban teachers; in par- ticular, local allowances for rural teaches have become a more urgent problem.
Teachers’incomes in some areas are even lower than before implementation of new mechanisms. However, the implementation of rural compulsory education in high quality and at a high level mainly depends on quality teachers. Approaches to improve the treatment of rural teachers, strengthen training for rural teachers, and formulate related supportive polices to improve the quality of rural teachers have become a bottleneck for further development of Chinese compulsory education.
1.4.3 Adequacy of Non-personnel Expenditures Needs Improvement and Growth Mechanisms Needs Perfecting
With the implementation of new mechanisms, the non-personnel expenditures for rural primary and junior secondary schools have improved remarkably. However, whether the non-personnel expenditure standards are adequate or not still needs to be tested in practice and further theoretical research. Currently, non-personnel expenditure standards are not adequate for teacher trainings and related expenses of boarding schools. Take the boarding schools’related expenses as an example: More staff resources will be needed for dormitory management and catering. These resources normally are not included as formal staff and their salaries are mainly from non-personnel expenditures. Non-personnel expenditure standards as imple- mented may not meet this demand.
1.4.4 The Standard of Living Subsidy for Poor Boarding Students Is Relatively Low and Expenditure
Guarantee Needs to Be Further Strengthened
Although the state planned to implement a policy of equal sharing of subsidies for poor boarding students by the central government and local authorities, and the sources of the subsidy have been guaranteed to some extents, the subsidy standards are still low compared to the living costs for low-income boarding students. The
coverage, subsidy standard, and expenditure sources still need further clarification and strengthening.
1.4.5 The Resources Allocation Between Urban and Rural Areas Is not Balanced and Per-Student Expenditures for Rural Schools Are Much Lower
Because China is still a developing country, city-oriented social and economic development policy, which had been carried out for a long time in the past, has led to an obviously dual structure of urban and rural areas in China and conspicuous differences in education between urban and rural areas. Taking the year 2006 as an example, the expenditure per urban and township junior secondary school student in China was 3479 Yuan, while that for a rural junior secondary school student was only 2190 Yuan—1269 Yuan less than for urban students. The expenditure per rural junior secondary school student was only 60 % of that for an urban and township junior secondary school student. The expenditure per urban and township primary school student in China was 2855 Yuan, while that of rural primary school student was only 1847 Yuan—1008 Yuan less than for urban students. The expenditure per rural primary school student was only 70 % of that of urban and township primary school student. Unbalanced educational resources allocation between urban and rural areas will have an impact on human capital accumulation for rural areas and a further impact on the balance and equality of income distri- bution in the long term.
1.4.6 Differences of Expenditures Per Student in Rural Primary and Junior Secondary Schools
Are Comparatively Big Between Regions
Besides obvious differences between urban and rural areas, there still exist serious differences between regions in China. Taking the year 2006 as an example, the expenditure per rural junior secondary school student in Beijing and Shanghai exceeded 10,000 Yuan, reaching 12,624 Yuan in Beijing. In central and western rural areas, the expenditure per junior secondary school student was just over 1200 Yuan. For example, the expenditure per rural junior secondary school student in Guizhou was only 1260 Yuan—one-tenth of that in Beijing. In 2006, the highest expenditure per rural primary school student was in Shanghai, having reached 9561 Yuan, while that of Henan was only 1068 Yuan—the former being nine times greater than the latter. Although the local input of educational expenditures is closely linked with local economic development level, the adjustment role of the central government cannot be ignored.
1.4.7 The Long-Term Physical Facilities Guarantee
Mechanism for Rural Primary and Junior Secondary Schools Needs Further Improvement
In 2006, a total of 4.97 % of school buildings in primary schools in China were dilapidated; this percentage was 5.69 % in rural areas. The percentage of dilapidated school buildings in junior secondary schools in China was 3.25 %; in rural areas, this percentage was 3.72 %. The physical facilities of rural primary and junior secondary schools in central and western regions are poorer, with the percentage of dilapidated school buildings even reaching 10–15 %. To address this situation, the new mechanism should have the safety and protection of teachers and students as one of the main focuses.
1.4.8 Crowding-Out Effect of Multi-level Governments
Withfive levels in the governmental structure, China has complicated multi-level governmental relations, including not only relations between the central govern- ment and local governments, but also multi-level relations among provincial, municipal, county-level, and township governments from a local perspective. One of the keys for effective implementation of new mechanisms is to properly handle relations among multi-level governments. Particularly after the central government and provincial governments have taken more stringent measures for transfer pay- ments, deeper research will be needed to guarantee the efforts made by county-level governments and prevent original education inputs by county-level governments from being crowed out. Problems have already emerged regarding a decreased ratio of educational budget inputs at county levels compared to totalfinancial expendi- tures in some counties after the execution of new mechanism. Proper handling of the crowding-out effect from multi-level governments plays a key role in the suc- cess of new mechanisms. In the long term, these mechanism should be carried out in an earnest manner to guarantee compulsory education expenditures.
Study on Non-personnel Expenditure Standards for Rural Compulsory Education
Non-personnel expenditures for primary and junior secondary school are expen- ditures that ensure regular operation, teaching activities, and logistic services. These expenditures are important for guaranteeing that the school can accomplish schooling and teaching tasks, improve education quality, and maintain regular operation. In the past, schools could not offer all of the required curricula because of insufficient expenditures and operations being at a very low level. After imple- mentation of the new mechanisms, non-personnel expenditures for schools have been guaranteed and improved remarkably. However, these expenditures are still not adequate, as primary and junior secondary schools cannot supply high-quality nine-year compulsory education for every student. Therefore, to perfect the new mechanism, it is necessary to establish a scientific and reasonable per-student non-personnel expenditure standard for rural compulsory education, including the improvement of fund guarantee level for rural compulsory education. A study on the approaches to per-student non-personnel expenditure standards for compulsory education will also be conducive to improving budget management, which will make the allocation of educational resources more reasonable and more efficient.
According to the Notice about Further Reforming the Fund Guarantee Mechanism for Rural Compulsory Education and Compulsory Education Law, the central government and local governments should determine non-personnel expenditure standards for primary and junior secondary schools in rural areas.
This study tries to provide reasonable and scientific approaches for governments to determine non-personnel expenditure standards for primary and junior secondary schools.
To date, there have beenfive approaches to determine non-personnel expendi- ture standards around the world, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.
However, no consensus has been reached on how to determine non-personnel expenditure standards in China. This study introduces these five approaches and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Then, some approaches that are suitable for China will be used to calculate non-personnel expenditure standards for rural compulsory education.
©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
Y. Du and Z. Sun,Research on Compulsory Education Financing in China, New Frontiers of Educational Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-47830-1_2
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