十二年國民基本教育財務規劃的虛與實   全文下載

Rhetoric and Reality of 12-Year Basic Education Financing in Taiwan

九年國民教育業於1968 年施行，迄今將屆46 年。為提升整體國民素質，近二十餘年更進一步推動延長國民基本教育至12 年，且於2014 年正式實施。本研究試從教育財政角度，析論十二年國民基本教育的財務規劃是否足以撐起此一世紀大業，並得出以下結論：一、義務教育最大特質在普及、強迫與免費，我國九年國民教育雖也免收學費，但囿於財政收支相關法令，地方教育經費至今仍患寡，國中小仍收取代收代辦費，有違義務教育完全免費的精神，十二年國民基本教育財務規劃並未處理該議題。二、十二年國民基本教育揭櫫「成就每一個孩子」的教育願景，教育部也針對偏鄉及弱勢學生推動多項補助方案；然國中小學生學習成就依舊存在城鄉差距，十二年國民基本教育也未增加經費以達成該願景。三、我國高中職每生支出只是已開發國家的七成，十二年國民基本教育計畫將八成新增經費用於高中職，有其必要；然超過半數的經費用於推動高中職免學費，只是將原來的家戶支出改由政府支出，對於提高後中經費並無助益，也造成經費排擠無法做更有效的用途。四、學前教育雖也實施免學費方案，但理論與實證研究都證實學前教育應比高中職優先義務化。根據上述發現，研究者據以提出教育財政相關建議，以利十二年國民基本教育順利推動。

Nearly 46 years have passed since a 9-year national education system was implemented in Taiwan in 1968. The 9-year system will now be extended to 12 years and renamed “12-Year Basic Education.” From the perspective of school finance, we analyzed and discussed whether the government can afford this tremendous change. It was summarized that (1) primary education should be compulsory, free, and accessible to all. However, because of fiscal regulations and structures, the 9-year national education system has been suffering from an insufficient budget at local levels and has not been entirely free of charge for every student until now. (2) Although several programs for socioeconomically disadvantaged students have been implemented by the Ministry of Education, achievement gaps between rural and nonrural areas, even among students within rural circumstances, remain remarkably wide. The new education plan appears to neglect these two problems. (3) Because expenditure per pupil on postsecondary education in Taiwan is only 70% of the OECD’s average, it is reasonable to spend 80% of the new budget at the postsecondary stage. However, more than half of the overall budgets are set to eliminate tuition fees for postsecondary and 5-year-old preschool students, without further increasing any public inputs and simply transferring accounts from private to public. With such a small budget, the zero-tuition policy means to require money to be diverted from other more comprehensive initiatives. (4) Preschool education should be planned as compulsory prior to the postsecondary stage, both theoretically and practically. Four recommendations on school finance are provided for future implementations of 12-Year Basic Education.