School Districts in the American and French Educational Administration Systems:A Comparison and Discussion BAO Chuan-you ( School of Educational Aderministration, Education Faculty, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875) Abstract: The school district is the basic unit of educational administration in the United States and France. Although the system of school districts has developed differently in each of the different educational administration systems, in both systems school district management has differences and common characteristics which are worthy of study. The significant characteristics of the school district system include the independence of school districts from public administration, the independent financial management of school district budgets, separate decision-making and implementation functions at school district level, the employment of highly specialized professionals within school districts, and the development of school districts as flexible and diverse organizations. The relationship between public administration and educational administration in both countries is balanced well by independent school district management, which guarantees the freedom of educational administration to work independently and effectively, and promotes the balanced development of education in a district. All of this has implications for China and study of these systems can help us to recognize and address some of the fundamental problems of educational development in China. Keywords: the United States; France; school district;educational administration Educational administration is an important part of the national public administration and is the country lead and management of the education through the governmental educational administration departments. [1] The organization and the system of the educational administration have a very important role in the efficiency and fairness of the public education resource allocation. Because the political, economic, cultural, social and historical differences, in the long-term educational development process, different countries formed a unique educational administrative system, and a different educational development pattern and level. Decentralization is a typical American educational administration, and the French one is centralized. However, both have taken the school district administration at the local level. Then, the position of the school districts in their respective management system, and the differences and similarities in the institutional setting, the responsibility assignment,
the operation and the function, and what China should learn from the experience, etc. are a few basic questions discussed and focused in this article. 1.U.S. school district administration: institutions and functions U.S. school district, also known as the local school district, is established by the state legislature for the children living in the service area to provide public education entities, and to be responsible for handling and maintaining of local public schools. In the U.S. where implements federal, state and local levels education administrative system, the local school district belongs to the U.S. local educational administration body which is the basic education administration unit as well as the regional units for the school students. In early 1990s, the United States is divided into approximately sixteen thousand and two hundred school districts. [2] Through continuous restructuring and consolidation, now there are about 15,000 school districts. School districts have a certain range of geographical space. The number and size of school districts vary widely among states. Division of the school district is not necessarily consistent with the administrative division, and also not subordinate to the general administrative system, and has an independent executive power and the right of decision the education tax levy. Its position in the educational administration system in the United States is shown in Figure 1.
U.S. Congress Ministry of Education State Constitutions ConstitutioConstitution s State Council State Board of Education State department of education Board of Education Central Office Strong power Weak power Figure 1 The relationships bwteen school districts and other educational administration institutions in the U.S.A (1) The U.S. educational administrative institutions and managers of the local school district U.S. school district's educational administration is made up by the school district board of education and the central office. The Board of Education has the right of decision-making and the central office has the right of implementation. Board of Education in different states is under different names, some are called the Board of School. The board of education is set in accordance with the relevant laws of the state and exercises authority and manages the school as required by the laws. The members of the U.S. Board of education in the Local School Districts are usually voted or appointed,and the latter became less and less in recent years. To the 2l century, 93% of the Board of Education claims that all its members are voted. [3] The Board of Education is generally composed of 3-9 people. Most of them are voted by the local residents and a few appointed by the state or local government, and usually tenure of 4-6 years. [4] The Board of Education usually has a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary, a treasurer, and a variety of committees. The Board of
Education holds meetings regularly and is open to the public. [5] The Qualifications of Committee members are: vision to create a better future; abstract thinking; managing the overall situation; as a team-worker; acceptance and use of power; willing to providing service for others; having abilities to raise funds and other organizational skills; [6] residence for more than six months and with voter qualifications. [7] The chief executive of the central office is served by the superintendent of the school district. The organization of the central office depends on the size of the school district, usually with one superintendent, in big school Districts, with one more deputy superintendents. In the most school districts, the superintendent is selected by the Board of Education and some others by the civic votes. Superintendent s tenure is generally 3-4 years. After the expiration, the Board of Education decides whether extending the employment. The superintendent is extremely important in the school district and in its educational administration. The qualifications for the superintendent are: valid superintendent certification; 10-year school experience and 3-year successful experience; without any infection or infectious disease, medical certificate; to faithfully perform their duties and oath to office; a local residence; no other duties that limit the implementation of the superintendent. [8] (2) The division of educational administrative rights in the U.S. school districts In general, educational administrative institutions in school districts have the following rights: 1Financial rights. Board of Education in school districts can raise education funds by levying local property taxes without permits of public administrative institutions, but school bonds must be approved by referendum in most of school districts. 2Personnel rights. The establishment and management of the regional primary and secondary education, selection of the chief executive officer, developing employment standards and the right of consent of the secretary of education, principals, teachers, and other relevant personnel matters. 3Curriculum rights. Planning the school district's curriculum according to state law; approving textbooks used in public schools. 4Developing or reviewing the school district's education development plan, negotiating with the professional organizations or trade unions on behalf of school districts. [9]
In general, the functions of the school district board of education and the school district central office are divided as follows: 1Policy. The school district board of education implements state educational laws and the various regulation instructions promulgated by the state educational committe and develop the school district's educational goals and the corresponding policies. The central office is responsible for reporting, interpretation and implementation of policies formulated by the board of education regulations. 2Funds. The school district board of education reviews and approves the education budget, salary scale. The central office is responsible for the preparation of budgets and the implementation of the approved budget. 3Personnel. The school district board of education is responsible for selecting and employing teachers and other educational administrators. The central office recommends teacher candidates for the board of education and is responsible for guiding and supervising the employees. 4Curriculum. The school district Board of Education is responsible for textbook and curriculum changes. In addition, the School District Board of Education is also responsible for ruling on disputes in education and publishing and reporting educational news. The central office is responsible for the school district's educational programs and leading the school district's educational development and being responsible for the protection and full use all of the school district s property and attending all the meetings of the school district board of education and reporting the important education issues to the education committee in time, and presenting the school district annual reports. [10] Management decisions made by school district board of education are basically the final decision, unless the abuse of its powers, otherwise the court will not review its behavior. The central office hires a number of experts or assistants to do with the school district management, personnel, curriculum, infrastructure, student affairs and community relations and other work. 2.School districts of French educational administration: institutions and functions The centralized educational administration system in France is divided into 3 levels, i.e. central level, district level and local level. Deferent levels have different functions. In order to facilitate management, the French central government divides
95 administrative provinces into 29 school districts (to January 2004). Almost all school districts are corresponds to a large area. But there are exceptions, such as the Paris region which includes three school districts, i.e Paris school district, Clay school district and Versailles school district. [11] Ministry of National Education has absolute authority and performs functions through school districts, school district supervisors in each province and cities (towns) board of education. However, the school district is the most fundmental unit and insititution to implement the education management in France and has relatively large and independent rights of educational management in French educational administration system. Its relationships with other educational administration bodies are shown in Figure 2. National Ministry of Education School district consultancy headquarters of the school district head. supervisory department Provincial consultancy superintendent of school district Assistant superintendent of school district Strong power weak power Figure 2, The relationships between school districts and other educational administration institutions in France (1) Insitituions and managers in French school districts Educational administrative insititutions in French school districts include the supervisory department and headquarters of the school district head. There are many public servants who work for the head and are responsible for pesrsonel in the insititution and supervision of the teaching system. In headquarters of school districts,
there are general secretary, office head and supervisors of the public relations and human resources. School district head and provincial inspectors that are presntatives of National Ministory of Education at the provincial level have a close relationship. School district head is on behalf of the Ministory of Education and the school district inspectors (provincial education chief executive) on behalf of School District head and executives their powers in their area. School district advisory bodies have national board of education, school district social affairs committee, region scholarship committee, school district technology balance of the Committee and school district administrative balanced committees. They can adervise on different aspects of educational organizations and their functions. In France there is no unified organizational structure of school districts. The differences between the school district also explain the diversity of the current school districts. Each school district is managed by a school district head. School district head is the highest administrator, nominated by the Minister of Education and appointed by the President on the Council of Ministers. School district head is the regional representative of the central educational administration to exercise the highest powers of the chief executive of education, and he or she must have the doctor degree and has served as university president or professor. According to the act of March 21, 2001: school district head must be qualified to lead research, have a doctor degree, and at least 10 years professional experience in the field of training. [12] The school district inspector is appointed by examination or recommendation (not exceed 1/4 of the appointment). The consultants for the school district head are served by the civil servants belonging to different organizations. School District consultants include school district representatives for technical education, school district information and guidance director, the continued training school district representatives, district engineers, consultants, social assistance advisers, consultant nurses and secondary school principals for the basic school life. In addition to school district personnel in the district headquarters supervisors and consultants, a large number of staff are responsible for policy implementation and completion of routine administrative tasks. Most of them are officers or executive clerks in schools and universities, some are
non-civil servants and teachers who employed as supportting staff, temporary or contract workers,and do some work of educational administration. (2) The the division of French school districts functions and rights In French school districts administrative authority is mainly conducted by the school head and the regional education supervision insititution. School district head s rights are: 1the implementation of the decisions of the Minister of Education, and to report regularly the school district's education to the Minister of Education; supervision of all national education laws and regulations relating to implementation of the provisions; 2Ensuring normal operation of all primary and middle schools and national education departments and insititutions, building schools and making decision of schools distribution according to the overall planning of the Ministry of Education; 3reviewing and approving educational funds on behalf of the governor of the province; 4leadership and supervision of the teaching, administrative and financial work; 5 organizing the different types of examinations and appointing members of examination committee; 6being responsible for signing the national diploma; 7keeping contact and consultation with political, economic and social partners in the school district. [13] In the practice of educational administration and higher education, the school district head enter each university as a "president" of all the nuversities. In secondary education, the school district head is coordination between higher education and secondary education, secondary education on the overall guidance and supervision, including curriculum, teaching methods, various national examinations, teacher training, personnel management. In primary education, the school district head makes the management of schools and classes open and close, the appointment of teachers, the maximum penalty of execution. In addition, the school district head also leads the School Affairs Bureau, supervises and inspects private schools. The general secretary of the school district can replace the school district head s rights in his absence and can sign documents instead of school district head. The consultants of the school district head (mainly local teaching inspectors) are both administrators and inspectors in charge of technical education, school district information, continuing training and other businesses. Most of the regional
education inspectors are responsible for inspection and supervision of teaching. 3. The shared characteristics of American and French school districts state System Belonging to different political systems and educational administrative systems, the United States and France are quite different in the scope, functions and operation of separation of powers and the specific operations in school districts. However, there are also many shared characteristics (see chart1), especially they both have the higher efficiency of management under different administrative systems, not only ensure adequate supplies of educational funds, but also promote the balanced development between the school districts and contribute great to basic education of the two countries which is particularly noteworthy. Table 1 Comparison of American and French school districts America France administrative decentralization centralism the levels of educational administrationa the relationship between school district and general public administration functions of school dstrict the law grounds for school districts administration the adminastration of school district s education appointing of the education administrational official distribution of rights decision-making and execution specialization ferderation state school district relatively independent, financial independence the administrative education unit and the unit to go to school in local state constitution board of education central office vote personnel, course, finance, budget, teaching plan, public relations, etc. making decision by Board of Education performing by the central office the chief of educational administration is educational expert central authority school district regions relatively independent, financial independence the administrative education unit and the unit to go to school in local national constitution school district's headquarters the local education supervising department appoint personnel, course, funds, teaching plan, supervision, etc making decision by the chief of school district; performing by the staff; all decisions should be deliberate by deliberative council the chief of school district is specialized persons, and so is the supervisor of teaching
participatory the scope of school district the type of school district combined with adept and layman; open the conference of school district educational committee difference from state to state; be allowed to set up across regions under the state flexible and diverse establish various kinds of advisory bodies in school district trans-provincial, different due to unique natural feature flexible and diverse (1) The independence of school district's educational administration American and French school districts are independent institutions from the general public administration and operating on their own. In other words, the strict education administration is not subordinated to the local government and not to be leaded directly by the local government at the same level. In America, the school districts are not commanded by state government directly. All the same, French school districts are not controlled by the regional government either. School districts separate public educational management from general public administration, and are responsible for providing public educational services. The relatively independent distribution and operation of education administrative powers stop the local government from intervening the educational affairs excessively and inappropriately, maintaining internal independence of the education administration, keeping the balance between internal rights and responsibilities of educational administration institutions, reducing the unnecessary coordination, and greatly improving the efficiency of educational administration, which promotes the educational administrative efficiency highly and makes education management embody the rules of educational development better. (2)The independence of school district's educational finance American school districts (almost 90%) enjoy independent right of finance and reserve the rights to levy, to raise education fund and draft budges for schools. French education finance belongs to general public financial system; therefore the educational funds must be approved by the upper department. More than 80% of the educational funds are provided by nation, and transferred from total revenue. [14] But
school district s education funds are used by educational administrative institutions independently. The independent right of finance guarantees adequate supplies of education funds, reduces financial intervention from other government departments, improves efficiency of the education funds. (3) Separation of rights of decision-making and implementation The rights of decision-making and implementation are divided clearly in United States and France, which creates a special administrative practice for education, by this means, decision-makers and performers just blame for their own works. In America, the school district's educational committee of district makes decisions according to various rules and instructions. Proctors are responsible for execution of all decisions made by education committee. In France, with the guidance of the school district super tender, those decisions about school district s educational administration will be lay out by adviser of school district s super tender and national education committee, and so on. The other departments concerned are responsible for implementing. The decision-making and implementation separate relatively, and that enforces the assignment, and makes sure of administrative obligations of different branches. (4)The combination of specialization and participation In the United States, proctors usually are professionals who are engaged in education work for many years. The members of education committee of school districts consist of people in local community, they take part in decision-making and give fed-back, which makes various schools in deferent areas can adjust measures to local conditions, and the public will pay more attention to education. In France, the leaders and policymakers at all levels of education administrative system must be education specialists. At the same time, the education advisory and inspection system is established. In the course of making educational decision and educational administration, the opinions and suggestions from all circles of the society can be known. Combined with specialization and participation in American and French school districts make educational administration more scientific and democratic. (5) Flexible and various organizations in school districts
In the United States and France, the number and scale of school district organizations are flexible and various from place to place. In a school district, the development of education can keep better balance. There are many different school districts in the United States including various types, such as independent school districts, ordinary school districts, unified school districts, middle school districts, primary school districts, community colleges districts, and vocational and technical education school districts, and so on. In France different school districts are quite different in scopes of management, natural features, history, development and etc, which reflects the imbalance of social, economic, and cultural development among aderministrative regions. These flexible organizations that adapt to the local social, economic and cultural conditions are very for promoting regional educational development. 4.The enlightenments from American and French school districts Currently, China executes such an education administrational management system which include four levels, i.e central level, province level, city level and couty level. The couty authorities play the principal role in basic education. Local education administrative department accepts the united leadership of the local public government, and accepts the leadership or business guidance which comes from superior educational administration department of public government. The relationship between education administrative system and the local government administration is close, that results in the personnel and property power belong to different departments. The rights of education administrative institution are weak in longitudinal and strong in horizontal (see chart 3). Such an institutional arrangement can help the local government to strengthen their responsibility for education and manage education according to the local conditions, but at the same time, it also easily leads to the government intervention in educational businesses excessively. In other words, it will cause the government "offside" easily. Followed by is the asymmetry of responsibilitis and rights, the powers of education administrative institutions are weakened, and national education policies are difficult to be enforced. Other negative effects will show up, such as multi-managements, high cost of coordination,
unbalanced educational development among different regions. Due to excessive intervention by governmental departments at same level, educational finance can hardly be used seperately and independantly, is very hard to provide adequate funds for education. Because of appointment by the government, most education administrative personnel are low specialization. Some survey shows that nearly half of the education directors are not from the educational system, [15] who lack in professional knowledge seriously. The system of education administrative decision-making and implementation is top-down, and lacks systems and mechanisms which can facinitate social organizations and individuals to take part in educational decisionmaking that results insufficient of social participation and low level of democratization. Strong power the State Council Weak power Ministry of education Provincial government Provincial department of education Provincial committee of education City government Couty government City Bureau of Education Couty Bureau of Education City committee of education Couty committee of education Figure 3 The power relationships in Chinese education administrative system
In order to solve above difficulties, to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas, and among regions by educational administration, we d better learn from American and French school districts to reform our education administrative system, and to establish an educational administratiive system that can not only strengthen the unified leadership but also can fully mobilize the enthusiasm of local governments to develop education. (1) Implementing the relative independence of educational administration and promoting the separation of management and performance It is different from economy and politics, education has the logic and laws of its own. Education would provide better service for economic and social development only when it is run by its own law. In The National Education Reform and Development of Long-term Program, the goal of educational management system reform is that, "promoting the central government to decentralize its rights to the local governments, government delegate rights to schools; making the responsibilities at all levels of the government clear; regulating managing behaviors of schools; furthering separation of management, performance and evaluation; forming an orderly and coordinating education management system" Therefore, the reform of education administration system in the future will need define the functions and rights of government and education administrative institutions to ensure the independence of the education administration and administrative efficiency. From this perspective, the educational administration of school districts in America and France is a good example. Both of them in different aderministrative systems also explains that the relative independence of the educational administration system is feasible in political. We can attempt to implement the relative independency of education administrative system, i.e to unite the right of financial supervision and the right of personnel together which belong to the local governments, and to empower educational administrative institutions to promote their rights accordance with their responsibilities. At the same time, the subject of the management of basic education is moved up to higher administrative institutions to narrow the educational gap among
different areas. (2)Dividing the responsibilities within education administrative system effectively After uniting the personnel and finance rights, we can separte decision making from decision enforcing in the inner education administrative system to ensure the educational decision making more scientific and objective. Because of the development of education is severe unbalanced in different areas in China, in order to promote the development of local education according to practical conditions, the local education administrative institutions should enjoy rights such as education development planning, personnel, funds, etc. (3) Better interaction between education administrative institutions, schools and communities Education can t acquire development without combined efforts of schools (including students, teachers, etc), communities (parents, enterprises and institutions, etc.) and educational administration institutions. In the practices of education administration, it is necessary to realize and clear their different functions and responsibilitiesv, and form an operating mechanism, in which each performs its own functions well. Education administrative institutions should be responsible for guiding the goal and direction of educational development, providing the conditions of educational development, such as school buildings, teachers and funds, etc. Schools have rights to make teaching decisions, to pay more attention to the teaching quality and to promote students growing-up. The communities participate in the educational management and play the roles of consulting, recommendation and supervising, etc. (4) Promoting the professionalization of education administration To make education administrative system more efficient, the rights and functions os education administrative institutions and personnel should be divided more clearly. To achieve the professionalization, education administration needs to have an "educational standards" and an "administrative standards", and above all is "educational standards". [16] The key of the education administrative professionalism is the professionalization of education administrative personnel. In order to promote the healthy development of education, corresponding system should be established to
ensure the professional development of education administrative personnel. Education administration personnel must be selected strictly according to professionalized standards, and their qualifications such as such as knowledge, skills and experiences must be cleareds and pecified. At the same time it is very important to strengthen their introduction training and on-the-job training. to make them adapt to new conditions in educational development and learn to deal with new issues in educational administration. References: [1]Xiao Zongliu&He Le-fan. China Education Administration[M].Beijing: People education press, 1996:3. [2]Lin Baoshan.American Education System and Reform Trends [M].Taipei: WuNan Books publishing company,1992:70. [3]Feng Gang&Yao Zhiqiang. Developmental Trends of U.S. School District Management Authority Distribution [J].World Education Information,2009,( 5): 43-46. [4]Staggered terms: the term of Board of Education members is staggered, it allows no full general election after an expired term of office. [5]For instance,in Collier County, Florida,there are five members of its Board of Education. Three of them would work until 2010 and the other two until 2012. School Board Members.http://www.collier.k12.fl.us/board/members/index.asp. [6]The Board Member Qualification Guide.http://www.olanhendrix.com/articles/boardmember.htm. [7]Qualifications for a Board Position.http://sc.lpisd.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php. Length of residence in the local states are different, for exemple, the specified length of residence is two years in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Refer to : QUALIFICATIONS FOR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS.http://www.cpsb.org/system/policies/caps/Policy/ABCB.htm. [8]N.C. Gen. Stat. 11SC-271; 115C-272; Refer to:constitution of North Carolina, Article VI, Section 9. Adopted by Cumberland County Board of Education on July 1, 1985. [9][10]Huang Junwei.Comparative Study of American and Chinese Educational Administration Organization [D].A master degree thesisof Nanjing Normal University,2005. [11] [12][13] [France] Jacky Simon& Gerard Lesage.French National Education Organization and Management [M].Translte by YAN an.beijing:education Science Press,2007:89-99. [14]Guan Haofeng.On the characterictics and trends of French educatonal administrative function[j].foreign Primary and Secondary Education, 1997,( 3): 34-36. [15]Cong Chunxia.Study on the specialization od Educatioanl administrators Based on the investigation of education directors on the country level [J].Research in Educational Development 2009,( 6): 17-20.
[16]Chu Hongqi. Specialization of Educational Administration and the transformation of Educational Adminisration Functions [J].Peope Education,2005,( 21): 5-8.