豪州ビクトリア州における学校財政制度に関する考察 : 学校への財政権限委譲と学校改善の関係構造の解明(II 研究報告)

抄録

Recently School-Based Budgeting has been introduced in the UK, USA and Australia. However, the relationship between School-Based Budgeting and School Improvement has not been made clear. In this article I will try to shed light on this relationship by studying the school finance system in the State of Victoria, Australia. In Victoria, the School Global Budget was implemented as a new school finance system in government schools. The significance of this development can be internationally stressed. The School-Global Budget is a system which gives full discretion in resource allocation to schools. In the 1980s the decentralisation of curriculum to schools was implemented by the Labor Government, but this policy did not always improve the quality of education. At that time the economic situation became worse and educational reform was therefore expected. In 1992 the newly elected Liberal-National government decided to make an educational administration reform known as "Schools of the Future." This was a radical decentralisation of schools in the field of curriculum, staffing and budgeting. But it was significant that the Victorian System set up a Charter and Triennial Review. The "Charter" is a three-year school development plan which includes a budget program. This has to be adopted by representatives of the school council, principals and the Education Department in Victoria. The Triennial Review is a school evaluation system supported and advised by the Education Department Roles include promotion of the development of a management cycle in each school. The School-Global Budget is composed of Core Funding and Other Funding elements, but schools usually also receive voluntary contributions from parents and the community. Schools then have to allocate these resources and manage effectively through self-management. In Victoria the Self-Managing School Theory had an effect upon the "Schools of the Future" to a large extent. It is a theory organised and developed by Professor Caldwell and Mr Spinks. The key part of the theory is the development cycle in the Self-Managing School as illustrated in their book. The management cycle combines not only curriculum and school review also School Global Budget. This clearly illustrates the importance of School Global Budget in the Self-Managing School. According to a survey conducted by the department the University of Melbourne and Principals' Association, the School Global Budget is supported by principals in general. Further focusing on the case of Morang South Primary School in Melbourne, the author found that the School Global Budget could be linked with School Improvement. Principal leadership was important in this case. Lastly, three key points in the relationship between School-Based budgeting and School Improvement should be noted. First, a support system needs to be set up by the department, such as the Charter and Triennial Review. These systems promote the development of the management cycle in each school. Second, the importance of theoretical background can be stressed. Schools need a school management theory on which they can depend because decentralised schools have a lot of responsibilities. Third, principal leadership is essential since principal have to combine management resources seeking for School Improvement based on their leadership.