Abstract
This paper aims to discuss the framework of arguments about governance of school system in the age of the "regional sovereignty" reform. First, recent arguments about "regional sovereignty" reform are analyzed from two viewpoints: the contrast between "national standard" and "local optimum", and the democratic base of decision making. The author points out that the idea of local optimum often leads to serious gap among local self-governing bodies and that it becomes an issue if decision making for the local school system is easily delegated to a local administrative authority. Second, the significance of "die Wesentlichkeitsthorie" (the essential matters doctrine), which has been developed by the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany since the 1970s, for the school system reform is investigated concretely. This is evaluated as a sort of governance theory, which insists on the role of the legislative power from the modern viewpoint. Lastly, a new framework of argument is presented based on the comparative consideration of the Japanese and German situation described in the former sections. This framework shows what and how problem is to be discussed, focusing on the treatment of essential matters in education and the attribution of deciding authority.
