An Inspection on the Educational Gini Coefficient for the Balanced Development of China's Compulsory Education

摘要

This paper uses the Gini coefficient from 1991 to 2016 as the measure of equity in China's compulsory education. The findings are that basically, the Gini coefficient of educational expenditure per student for compulsory education is becoming lower year by year. However, there are huge gaps between different categories of economic development in terms of education Gini coefficient, as well as different parts of China in terms of expenditure per student for compulsory education. The balanced development level of compulsory education is different among the four economic zones. By applying the multiple linear regressions to official national data from 1991 to 2016, the paper shows the relationship between educational expenditure and the economic development at the provincial level. The financial situation and the responsibility of state government and local government on the development of basic education are critical to the fairness of the allocation of educational resources. The amount of educational expenditure for compulsory education decreases with the increasing level of fiscal decentralization at the provincial level. Based on the analysis of the findings, the suggestions for future improvement are shown as follow: first, government at all levels should clarify their financial responsibility for the balanced development in China's compulsory education; second, it is necessary to enhance the legislation on the implementation of compulsory education expenditure in local government; third, the central government should increase the financial transfer payment for compulsory education in remote and poverty-stricken areas and ethnic minority areas.