本文主要利用《臺灣總督府學事年報》與《新竹廳報》等史料，配合 報章雜雜誌探討日治前期公學校經費制度變革及問題所在。經由本文討論， 我們可以將公學校經費制度歸納出幾個特徵。首先，成立公學校並非單方面 就可以完成的事情，而是須要由民眾主動提出申請，再由官方進行審查，總 督府此舉作法可避免因設置過多的公學校造成財政負擔。其次，總督府設計 出由官方、監護人（學生家長）與地方民眾三者共同負擔學校經費的模式， 並沿用了傳統的學租、捐款的模式籌措來經費，更進一步創造出「學費」、 「基本財產」與「協議費」作為公學校收入來源。從收入比重來看，其中又 以「協議費」財源最為重要。在公學校經費管理方面，總督府鑑於學校設立 曾發生不穩情況，於明治35年（1902）開始制定公學校經費收支相關規定確 保學校順利運作，並依據實際情況調修正規定，公學校也由最初的不穩逐漸 穩定。在經費制度設計下，公學校財源多來自地方民眾，使區域內負責籌措 經費的民眾成為經濟上的共同體。由於擁有一定獨立財源，還能自行創造收 益，當時的公學校在經費上有如一個法人（corporate group）。 然而，看似穩定地公學校經費制度也有一些問題。因為協議費的徵收區 域等同學區，在鄰近公學校成立下，經費會隨著學區縮減而減少，造成收入 不穩定。也有人抱怨協議費劃分並不盡理想。隨著1910年代就學人口與學校 數目增加，在地方財源並未顯著增加下，校方只好利用借款來擴建校舍。借 款成為部分公學校解決就學人口增加的作法，學校的負債也逐年升高，成為 一個隱憂。

This essay made use of the Taiwan Sotokufu Gakuji Nenbō and Sinchiku Chyohō to explore transformation of the funding system of common schools during the early Japanese colonial period and the problems of the system. We can distinguish several characteristics of the common school funding system. First of all, no matter how the Taiwan Common School Ordinance had been revised, to avoid a financial burden due to the over-establishment of schools, the government maintained full control over the establishment of common schools. Secondly, the Taiwan Governor-General Office modeled the elementary school system after Japan’s “Education System Order” of 1872, and designed a new model in which the government, guardians (parents of the students), and local people bore responsibility for school funding in colonial Taiwan. Additionally, the Taiwan Governor-General Office not only continued to use Taiwan’s traditional methods of land tenancy and donation for school funding, but also employed tuition, basic property, and agreement fees as other sources of common school funding. Among these, the agreement fees paid by local people were the most crucial funding source. To maintain the fiscal balance of common schools, the Taiwan GovernorGeneral Office set up a common school funding income and expenditure system that could be adjusted based on actual situations, and would ensure that common schools could maintain their operations. Thanks to the adjustment of income balance and expenditure, the common school funding system in Taiwan was gradually put on a sound footing. As the greater part of common schools’ funding was derived from local people, the people who helped raising the funds within each area consequently constituted an economic entity. Because the schools were free to generate revenue after basic property had been establishment, the operations of the schools had shifted to that of a corporate group. Nevertheless, the common school funding system was not without problems. Since the agreement fee collection areas were equivalent to school districts, school funding tended to diminish and revenue became unstable following the reduction in the size of a school district that occurred when a common school was established in a nearby area. Some people complained that the allocation of agreement fees was less than ideal. Following the increase in the student population and number of schools in the 1910, common schools were forced to borrow money to pay for expansion costs when local sources of funding did not increase significantly. Borrowing therefore became a way to solve the problem of growing student population for some common schools.

公學校；協議費；法人（corporate group）；地方民眾；就學人口

common school；agreement fee；corporate group；local people；student population