"The problem of unclear property rights system of private schools is basically not involved in the Education Law, Higher Education Law and this package of amendments to the Education Law (draft). Articles 35 and 36 of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education define the' legal person property right' during the existence of private schools, and article 59 defines the order of debt settlement when private schools terminate. Only in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations, the principle of' disposal of surplus property after paying off debts' was made, and there was no operational provision, which led to' private schools'. Wang Wenyuan said that the lack of this institutional arrangement makes it difficult to attract private funds and social resources to truly enter private education, to implement the responsibility of supervision and management of private school assets, to define the legal boundaries of private school assets by all parties concerned, and to truly implement the policies of encouragement and support for private schools.
"Therefore, whether from the past practice or focusing on the long-term sustainable development in the future, we should make institutional arrangements for the property rights of private schools at the legal level, which is also an important foundation for the higher and healthier development of private education." Wang Wenyuan believes that the different personnel systems between private schools and public schools have seriously restricted the construction of teachers in private schools and affected the improvement of running quality of private schools. "This not only needs to accelerate the reform of the personnel system of public schools as institutions at the national level, but also needs to crack the dual-track system of the personnel system of public and private schools and realize the merger as soon as possible."
There are far more than these that restrict the development of private education. In fact, in the past 30 years, no matter what mode of running a school, private schools have few sources of funds, such as social donations, actual investment by organizers, government subsidies and other industrial development of the school. Private schools basically rely on the rolling accumulation of students' tuition income to develop and maintain the operation of the school. In addition, they also borrow money from banks or other channels to repay their debts with tuition income. Wang Wenyuan believes that no matter what form, it will lead to insufficient funds for infrastructure construction, education and teaching and talent team construction of private schools.
How to crack it during the thirteenth five-year plan period? Wang Wenyuan suggested that from the government's point of view, on the one hand, effective measures can be taken to open up various channels for private schools to raise funds for running schools through the industrial development of schools such as social donations, sponsors' investment, government funding, and tuition fee reduction; On the other hand, we can standardize the assets and financial management of private schools through the construction of laws and regulations and the improvement of systems. At the same time, under the basic framework of implementing non-profit and for-profit classified management, transitional arrangements should be made to define the property rights of existing private schools before the implementation of the new system, and the open areas of "for-profit private schools" should be clearly defined from the legal level.
At present, in Article 26 of the draft amendment to the Education Law, the third paragraph of Article 25 of the Education Law "No organization or individual may establish schools or other educational institutions for profit" is amended as "Schools and other educational institutions established or participated in by financial funds or donated assets shall not be established as profit-making organizations". The second paragraph of Article 2 of the Regulations on the Implementation of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education stipulates: "State financial funds refer to financial funds allocated by the government, which are obtained according to law and should be turned over to the state treasury or financial special accounts."
"Future reforms may need to answer two questions-can state-owned assets hold or participate in holding for-profit schools? Can public schools use various tangible or intangible assets that are not' financial funds' to organize or participate in the organization of for-profit schools? " Wang Wenyuan suggested that state-owned assets, public schools, financial funds and donated assets should be limited to establishing or participating in the establishment of for-profit schools. At the same time, it is necessary to seriously study whether to allow for-profit private schools in compulsory education and higher education above undergraduate level, and it is appropriate to start them on a small scale. Judging from the international practice of for-profit education and the supply and demand of higher education in China, at this stage, it is not appropriate to set up for-profit schools in higher education fields above undergraduate level. (Reporter Jin Ke)