The Compilation and Administration of Education Expenditures Act

Article 1
This Act is promulgated to protect the wholesome development
of education and improve the performance of education
expenditures in accordance with Paragraph 2, Article 5 of
the Educational Fundamental Act.
The compilation and administration of education expenditures
shall be governed by this Act. Matters that are not covered
by this Act shall be governed by other relevant laws.
 
Article 2
Education expenditures in this Act refers to those
expenditures designated for education that are allocated to
the central or local competent authority, or the
educational institutions and public schools under the
jurisdiction of that central or local competent authority
under government budget.
Competent authorities in this Act refers to the Ministry of
Education of the central government, Education Bureau of the
city government of a municipality under the Executive Yuan,
and the HsienHsien (city) government of a Hsien (city).
 
Article 3
The central government, and special municipality, and county
(city) governments (hereinafter referred to as
“governments at each level”) shall fully provide for,
guarantee, and work to promote the steady growth of national
education expenditure within the financial capacity of the
country.
The aggregated education expenditure budget of governments
at each level shall be no less than 23% of the average of
the net budget revenues of the previous three years.
The increased education expenditure budgets arising as a
result of implementation of the provisions of the preceding
paragraph which was amended on 1 January, 2012 shall
primarily be used for promoting and implementing the 12-year
Basic Education program.
The net budget revenue referred to in Paragraph 2 refers to
the revenue of governments at each level that does not
include any government borrowings or appropriations of a
surplus from any previous fiscal year, and from which all
double-listed revenue items have been deducted when doing
the final accounts of the budget and any special budgets.
The financial resources of the government of a special
municipality or a county (city) are defined as its annual
gross revenue less any subsidies from a government at a
higher level and within each such government’s financial
capacity, priority shall be given to providing education
expenditure, to meet the basic needs of education. Its own
education expenditures shall increase year by year, except
when it has reduced financial resources.

Article 3-1
Any increase in the amount of income tax levied on the
salaries of the members of teaching and other staff of
public and private preschools, elementary, and junior high
schools by the central government in accordance with the
law is not to be included in the total amount when
calculating the 23% stipulated in Paragraph 2 of the
previous article; any additional government income derived
from such taxation is to be placed in a separate special
fund and used exclusively for enhancing the quality of early
childhood education and care services and elementary and
secondary education.

 
Article 4
The government of a special municipality or a Hsien (city)
shall make expenditures of compulsory education the priority
in its compilation of budget in accordance with Paragraph
10, Article 10 of the Amendments to the ROC Constitution.
If, in administering national compulsory education, the
government of a special municipality or a Hsien (city) has
fulfilled any of the criteria listed below, the designated
authority of the central government shall appropriate
grants at a proportionate amount in recognition of :
   1. As stipulated in Article 16, they have undergone
      evaluation and found to have outstanding performance.
   2. Has registered a significantly high annual growth
      rate in the percentage of education expenditures for
      the final accounting of its annual expenditures.
   3. As stipulated in Paragraph 1 of Article 16 of the
      National Education Law and Paragraph 1 of Article 18
      of the Act Governing the Allocation of Government
      Revenues and Expenditures, have levied a
      supplementary tax to fund the expenditures required
      for administering national compulsory education.
 
Article 5
In order to develop education in a balanced way across all
regional areas, governments at all levels shall make
subsidies for education expenditures in remote and special
areas a priority budget item, in accordance with the
Educational Fundamental Act.
In order to ensure the sustainable development of education
in remote and special areas and to promote the maintenance
and continuation of local native languages, local
governments may put forward plans for tailored sustainable
development of education in remote and special areas and
plans for development of local schools with teaching
tailored for their area, subsidized by central government
as approved special projects.
 
Article 6
In order to ensure education for aboriginal peoples, the
physically or mentally challenged, and other disadvantaged
groups and to assist in their education development,
governments of all levels shall compile liberal education
budgets in accordance with the Indigenous Peoples Education
Law, the Special Education Law and other relevant laws and
regulations.
 
Article 7
To promote a balanced development of public and private
education, the government shall encourage the private
sector to establish schools, and provide appropriate
financial assistance and incentives, and give priority to
assisting and providing incentives to private schools with
well-established mechanisms for providing scholarships and
bursaries for their students.

Article 8
Education subsidies from the central government to local
governments are divided into general education subsidies
and special education subsidies:
  A.General education subsidies are designated for education
    expenditures of a special municipality government or a
    Hsien (city) government, and they may be spent on any
    expenditure categories in any manners provided that they
    fulfill the purpose of a balanced allocation of
    education resources.
  B.Special education subsidies are designated for specific
    uses in accordance with the purposes of such subsidies.
 
Article 9  
The Executive Yuan shall establish an Education Funding
Committee which will have the following responsibilities:
  A. Formulating education funding criteria
  B. Calculating the basic education expenditure needs of
     governments at each level
  C. Calculating the respective share of the overall
     education expenditure to be allocated to governments
     at each level
The committee referred to in the previous paragraph shall
have 13 to 17 members who are scholars; experts; or
representatives of special municipality, and county (city)
governments; the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting
and Statistics, Executive Yuan; the Ministry of Finance;
the central competent education administration authority,
and associated agencies, and the scholars and experts shall
account for no less than one-third of the members. The
committee’s composition and meeting related matters shall
be prescribed by the Executive Yuan.

Article 10
The Standard Education Expenditures Committee of the
Executive Yuan shall develop standards for the calculation
of education expenditures that take into consideration of
local population, student population, the level, type,
scale, and location of all pubic and private schools and
other educational institutions, education quality
indicators, unit cost per student, among other contributing
factors of education costs; shall use these standards to
calculate basic needs for education expenditures for
governments of all levels; shall calculate the respective
shares of education expenditures of governments of all
levels in light of their financial capacity; and then, shall
report to the Executive Yuan for approval.
Competent authorities of governments of all levels shall
compile their annual education budget in accordance with
these standards and their respective shares of education
expenditures. Education budgets compiled by governments of
all levels may not be less than their approved basic needs
for education expenditures.
The central government shall compile budget for its general
grants to governments of a special municipality or a Hsien
(city) in accordance with the basic needs for education
expenditures of governments of a special municipality or a
Hsien (city), with shares of expenditures of governments of
a special municipality or a Hsien (city) deducted.
If the government of a special municipality or a Hsien
(city) violated the regulations in Article 3 or Article 4
during the previous year, in calculation of the current
year’s education expenditures, the self-funded share of
education expenditures shall be increased, or its general
education subsidy reduced.
The actual amount of the increase or reduction referred to
in the previous Paragraph will be determined by the
Educational Funding Committee of the Executive Yuan.
The government of a special municipality or a Hsien (city)
shall not be subject to an increase in the self-funded share
of calculated education expenditures, as described in
Paragraph 1, due to its having levied supplementary taxes
in accordance with Item 3 in Paragraph 2 of Article 4.
 
Article 11
Except for those expenditures required for maintaining the
necessary operations of a central competent authority and
those of educational institutions and public and private
schools under the central government, categorical grants
for public and private education businesses shall be
reviewed by the Review Committee for the Allocation of
Education Expenditures under the central competent
authority upon the legislative approval of its education
budget.
The aforesaid committee consists of 13-17 members that
include scholars, experts, impartial personalities, and
representatives of central competent authority and other
concerned agencies. Members Scholars, experts and impartial
personalities combined shall account for at least half of
the total seats of this committee. Items and procedures for
review and regulations for establishing this committee
shall be formulated by the central competent authority.
 
Article 12
Educational institutions and public and private schools
under the jurisdiction of the government of a special
municipality or a Hsien (city) shall formulate mid-term and
long-term development plans for education, have them
reviewed and approved by the governing competent authority,
and then submit them to Education Review Committee of that
government established in accordance with Paragraph 1 of
Article 10 of the Educational Fundamental Act.
Upon approval by the aforesaid Education Review Committee,
proposed budgets for educational institutions and public and
private schools under the jurisdiction of the government of
a special municipality or a Hsien (city) shall be made in
accordance with the approved basic needs and shares of
expenditures of that government stipulated in Paragraph 1
of Article 10 of this Act to serve as the basis for
compiling annual education budget by the governing
competent authority.
 
Article 13
With respect to its education revenues and expenditures,
the government of a special municipality or a Hsien (city)
shall establish Local Education Development Fund, which
shall be set up and administered as a dedicated account.
Monies for education expenditures self-funded by local
governments, general education subsidies, and special
education subsidies shall be included in the fund, and at
the end of each year, any surplus shall be rolled over for
meet expenditures in subsequent years; regulations
concerning the revenues and expenditures, safekeeping, and
uses of such funds shall be formulated by the special
municipality or Hsien (city) government concerned.
 
Article 14
Schools under the jurisdiction of governments at all levels
may establish School Development Fund, the regulations for
which shall be formulated by the governing designated
authority, unless other regulations apply.
 
Article 15
Governing competent authorities of all levels shall
supervise the finances of public and private schools and
other educational institutions in accordance with relevant
laws and regulations.
Public and private schools and other educational
institutions shall prepare on a regular basis financial
reports that describe their revenues and expenditures and
submit them to the governing competent authority for
public announcement.
Governing competent authorities of all levels may dispatch
personnel or commission a certified public accountant to
review the financial reports and revenues and expenditures
of public and private schools and other educational
institutions in accordance with relevant laws and
regulations, and may make public announcement of the review
outcomes. Any violation of regulations in the preceding
paragraph or other laws and regulations shall be handled in
accordance with relevant laws and regulations and made
known to the public.
The central competent authority may suspend categorical
grants for public and private schools or other educational
institutions as described in the preceding paragraph for a
period of one year to three years, depending on the
seriousness of such violations. This regulation also
applies to the government of a special municipality or a
Hsien (city) in the administration of public and private
schools or other educational institutions under its
jurisdiction.
Formats of the financial reports and means of their public
announcements as described in Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this
article shall be formulated by the central competent
authority.
 
Article 16
Governing competent authorities of all levels shall
establish evaluation system for public and private schools
or other educational institutions to improve performance
of education expenditures.
The aforesaid evaluation may be commissioned to a pertinent
academic group. However, public announcements should be
made concerning items for review prior to the review and
review outcomes after the review. Approaches, procedures,
grants and assistances, and other matters concerning the
review shall be formulated by governing competent
authorities of all levels.
 
Article 17
Governments of all levels shall have all items along with
their respective monetary amounts of their education budget,
development fund for local education, and school
development fund publicized on the Internet after the final
accounting of their annual budget has been completed.

Article 18
This Act shall take effect within one year from its
promulgation.
This Act was amended on 29 March, 2011; the date that the
amended articles take effect is to be determined by the
Executive Yuan.
The amendments to articles in this Act promulgated on 9
December, 2011 take effect on 1 January, 2012.
The amendments to articles in this Act promulgated on 18
December 2015 take effect from the day of promulgation.