Empirical research on the effect of decentralization in school education-Analyzing policy on class size reduction by local government in Japan

本研究旨在探讨福冈县地方政府小班政策对教育分权的影响。研究结论如下：(1)福冈县教育委员会对地方政府小班政策的参与程度不高，已有16个地方政府出台了有关教师聘任和班级规模的规定；(2)16个地方政府与44个仍未出台小班政策的地方政府在财政能力需求上没有统计学差异。(3)一些财力较弱的地方政府，因解决全国成绩考试成绩低的问题，在市长的倡议下推出了缩减班级规模的政策。

The purpose of this study is to clear the effect of decentralization in education by focusing on policy on class size reduction by local government in the Fukuoka prefecture.This study concludes as follows: (1) the board of education in the Fukuoka prefecture don't have any strong involvement in policy making on class size reduction by local government, and 16 local governmets have already introduced ordiences relating to teacher employment and class size, (2) there is no statistically difference in financial capability needs between 16 local governments and the other 44 local governments that still don't introduce policy on class size reduction,(3) the policy on class size reduction is introduced by mayor's initiative in some local governments in low financial strength because of solving problems of low test scores exposed by National achievement exams.