教育经费规范在近代中国宪法中的沉浮

Rise and Fall of Educational Budget in Modern Chinese Constitutions

近代以来,教育经费规范逐渐浮现于中国近代宪法文本中,这一态势持续到1949年。这一现象反映了严格规则主义对中国宪法的影响,折射出围绕着教育权保障所展现的各方利益冲突。这些刚性的操作性规范力图使保障教育权的理想和现实得以统一,虽然它们在某种程度上使人们能在合法范围内争取教育权益;但是规范和现实的落差既暴露出以严格规则主义宪法治国的伤痛,也说明了宪法并不代表宪政。

In the modern times, educational rights gradually gained recognition in the Chinese constitutions. In an effort to protect basic educational rights, a lot of clauses on educational budget were incorporated into various constitutional documents. The content of educational budget became broader and ampler along with modern social progresses. The content of the clauses gradually included the equality of basic education and the equality of opportunity of higher education in different regions. The focus of the clauses shifted from guaranteeing education rights to regulating education financial obligations on the government, which reflected the influence of strict rules in the modern Chinese constitutions. It also showed the special feature of modern Chinese constitutions in comparison with those of other countries.The evolution of educational financial rules in the constitutions reflected the complex relationship among different social groups. Modern education associations and political minorities played an important role in bringing the rules of educational budget into constitutional documents. They actively attracted attention to educational budget problems, set up the rules of educational budget and pushed the government to commit itself to its obligations. On the other hand, the authorities sometimes tolerated these strict rules under the strong pressure of other groups. When they were strong enough, they would evade their obligations by diminishing and cutting out some rules. The rules were not voluntarily accepted by people in power.The rules of educational budget provided legal guarantee to prevent abusing administrative power, so as to ensure educational rights for the people. The rules of educational budget aimed to serve as both a banner and a tool to protect educational rights. But there was a big gap between the reality and the ideal. The disjuncture between the constitution rules and actuality surely damaged the authority of the constitutions in the modern times. The contradiction showed that there was a long way to go to guarantee the basic educational rights.