EDITORIAL: Local education reform

Osaka Governor Toru Hashimoto has proposed transferring personnel management decisions regarding public elementary and junior high school teachers from the prefecture's board of education to the municipal boards of education.

The proposal merits attention as it could open up new horizons for education.

The measure, for instance, could increase chances that children will have a more enjoyable learning experience under teachers firmly committed to their local communities. It could also promote education-based development in cities and towns.

Five cities and towns in northern Osaka Prefecture have jointly accepted the proposal. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has decided to permit the step.

About 650,000 people live in the five municipalities, where about 3,000 teachers work at 109 public elementary and junior high schools.

If the proposal is implemented, these cities and towns can hire and transfer teachers within the area without consulting the prefectural board of education.

Under the current system, the prefectural boards of education make employment and personnel decisions concerning teachers at elementary and junior high schools, although these schools are operated by cities, towns and villages.

Two-thirds of the salaries of these teachers are paid by the prefectures and the rest by the central government.

This is a system designed to ensure the same standards of education across the nation and avoid large differences in the quality of teachers among areas.

This system, however, creates vertical relationships among the central, prefectural and municipal governments.

Critics have argued that prefectural control of personnel decisions tends to stifle school initiatives for better education.

The idea of transferring teacher management to municipalities has also been floated in public debate over the decentralization of education.

Proponents say devolving decisions concerning teacher management to local communities that can monitor the learning of children most closely would lead to education programs better tailored to their needs.

One way to do this would be to make a group of local governments of considerable size responsible for administrative matters concerning education.

Hashimoto brought up the idea also as a means to hold municipalities accountable for student performance. He was alarmed by the poor performance of students in Osaka in recent national achievement tests.

But the initiative should not be aimed solely at enhancing student performance.

It should promote the education policy initiatives of local communities. Examples could include an increase in teachers with foreign language proficiency to prepare students for work in an international environment or employment of qualified people in local communities as teachers.

There are also concerns about possible negative effects. While urban areas may attract highly qualified teachers, rural areas could find it difficult to lure young people pursuing a teaching career.

Another concern is that the proposed step could undermine flexibility in personnel management by limiting the scope of teacher transfers.

It might also lead to regional bias in the quality of teachers hired.

This is not a measure that can be adopted in all areas. The experiment in Osaka should be watched closely to discover ways to improve and refine the proposal.

If local communities assume greater authority over education, it will be important to make clear who makes the related decisions and how.

In the second stage of his reform initiative, Hashimoto is reportedly considering transferring teacher management authority to the mayors from the municipal boards of education.

There are certainly many problems with the boards of education, which have become emasculated.

But we fear that giving local government chiefs full authority over education could lead to politicized personnel affairs and excessive political intervention.

Debate on the reform should also address the issue of what kind of system is needed to make sure that the opinions and views of local residents are reflected on the education of children.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 17