中国义务教育财政面临的挑战与教育转利支付

Financial Challenges in Compulsory Education and Intergovernmental Education Grants

自1985年开始的义务教育财政改革是以分权化和经费来源多样化为主要特征的。这一改革取得了很大的成功，也在一定程度上导致了不同地区之间教育质量的日益不平衡以及贫困地区公共教育资源不足。这使得建立一个切实的、经常性的政府间转移支付制度成为必要。本研究利用1997年和1999年县级数据研究了90年代后期教育资源的使用状况和教育投入的地区间不平衡。在此基础上对分权化财政系统中政府间转移支付的作用进行了综述，并进一步探讨了在中国建立经常性的、切实的义务教育政府间财政转移支付的有关问题。

The financial reform of compulsory education in China since 1985 was characterized by fiscal decentralization and resource diversification. It has brought important benefits but did contribute to growing disparities in the quality of education across regions and to inadequate public financing of education in poor areas. This suggests that in the future， more effort needs to be put into the establishment and development of a substantial and regularized scheme of intergovernmental grants. This study， based on 1997 and 1999 county—level data， attempts to document the utilization of education resources and disparities in per—student spending in late 1990s. Then the study goes further to review the international experience regarding the role of intergovernmental grants in a decentralized system of financing， and finally examines the issues involved in establishing a regularized and substantial system of intergovernmental grants in compulsory education in China.