If we set regular spending at NT$3,000 or one third of OECD standards, regular spending will total only NT$6 billion or so. Our question to Wei, the ministers of education and their predecessors is, therefore: why is it that the NT$20 billion to NT$30 billion of annual education subsidies to local governments must always be specifically designated only for visible hardware -- toilets, walls, athletic tracks, VCRs, computers? Why is the ministry unwilling to allocate one fifth of the budget (NT$5 to 6 billion) to "invisible" regular expenses? In fact, such allocation will bring instant results.
For years, education budgets have included three categories of items that should not be included, such as items in the local governments' education budgets, often duplicated items supplied by way of subsidy from higher authorities. One good thing about the downsizing of the provincial government is that the merging of the provincial budget into the central government makes it easier to delete overlapping budget items.
Two, the education budgets cover "cultural" expenses. Under OECD methodology, a ballet concert or a "hsiangsheng" (
Three, the education budget even includes pensions for retiring education workers, such as faculty and other school staff.
A serious problem is that the central government's education budget for 2001 is NT$174.1 billion. After deducting NT$33.4 billion in subsidies for local governments, the central and provincial governments will actually get to spend NT$140.7 billion -- NT$8 billion less than last year. No wonder national schools are stomping their feet. If, as we very much fear, the education budget of local governments are not raised by 15 percent, the total governmental education budget will be even lower than this year's 3.88 percent of GDP.
The OECD has statistics on the education budgets of 28 countries, among which only two spend less than 4 percent of GDP! If we are to reach the OECD's average -- 5.1 percent of GDP -- we will need to raise the education budget by NT$125 billion. If we are to raise it to 6 percent (which is the goal of many education reform groups) then we will need to add NT$230 billion.
Given the international race toward "knowledge economies," if we do not significantly raise our education budgets, we will taste the bitter fruits 10 years from now.
At a time when all sectors are scrambling to grab money, we may have no other alternative but to raise taxes and enlarge the government's financial pie. Among the many election promises, the one on "no tax hikes" may be better off unfulfilled. This way, we may be able to reach the OECD average in three years.
Liu Yuan-chun is president of Soochow University. Wang Hsien-ta is an adjunct professor at National Central University and a consultant of the Planning and Evaluation Division of the National Science Council. Translated by Francis Huang
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