The Change of Educational Finance Policy in China: An Analysis Based on the “Highlights of the Work of Ministry of Education” from 1987 to 2019

This paper analyzes the changes of educational finance policy by text-coding of the " Highlights of the Work of Ministry of Education". It finds that:from 1987 to 2019, as an incentive tool to achieve the goal of educational development, the status of educational finance policies in the national education policy system has been enhanced, but their status fluctuated significantly. With the transformation of policy structure from the old to the new, policies of specific educational undertakings had been gradually replaced by policies of comprehensive planning which became the mainstream of educational finance policies. The continuous innovation of educational finance policies promoted the development of publicity, fairness and balance of educational finance. Not only policies of education fund-raising gradually turned to emphasize public funding of government at all levels, but policies of education fund-distribution also turned to emphasize personnel funding and education compensation. Moreover, the educational finance policies at all levels and in all categories also turned to emphasize a balanced development.