Shi Hui frowned and said, "The school selection fee of public schools is too high. It is equivalent to half a year's salary for us. We came all the way to Dongtai to work, and all of our half-year salary was paid for the school selection fee. Isn't this driving us away from Dongtai?"
Fang Zhicheng waved his hand and said to Yao Yuan without question: "The Education Bureau must allow these 30-odd students to enroll immediately. As for the issue of school selection fees, I will communicate with their companies to see if it can be solved from the companies' perspective."
Yao Yuan was slightly startled. He didn't expect the problem to be solved in this way. He asked in confusion, "Where is County Magistrate Deng?"
Fang Zhicheng raised his eyebrows. "Since this matter has been handed over to me, there is no need to worry about County Magistrate Deng."
Chapter 0389: The First Episode after Joining the Standing Committee
Fang Zhicheng had already made some calculations in his mind on how to deal with the issue of schooling for children of migrant workers. If Dongtai continues to develop at its current speed, the number of migrant workers will increase seven or eight times in three to five years, and the current educational resources will simply not be able to meet future demand. Therefore, Fang Zhicheng has been thinking about how to promote educational reform in Dongtai County.
The key to whether a city can grow rapidly lies in its population. Only with people can there be consumption and production, and among them, the foreign population is of paramount importance.
The migrant population can be divided into three categories. The first category is high-quality people who are at the top of the city's food chain, investing in enterprises or taking on management, R&D and other positions in enterprises; the second category is middle- and low-end people who are mainly responsible for the construction of infrastructure in the process of urban development; the third category is foreign tourist consumers. These people are relatively mobile, but they are an indispensable force in supporting the expansion of the city.
Dongtai government is now focusing on the first group of migrant workers, providing them with certain policy subsidies in housing and children's education. For example, if a doctoral degree holder comes to work in Dongtai, the government will provide them with expert housing and give priority to their children's education.
However, the Dongtai government did not take into account the children of migrant workers from the middle and low-end groups. These people do not have very high incomes and their sense of happiness in the city is already very low. In addition, when their children reach age, they cannot go to school at low cost. This has had a certain impact on the development of the city.
Educational resources cannot be completely fair, and the Education Bureau is not under the management of Fang Zhicheng, so he can only find other ways and use other strategies to balance educational resources.
If the children of migrant workers want to attend good public schools, they must pay a certain amount of school selection fees. This part of the fee is used by the school to increase infrastructure and teacher salaries due to the increase in students. It is very difficult to waive this fee because as the number of students increases and resources are insufficient, the fee must be increased. Moreover, this is a common practice in the national education industry and it cannot be waived at will.
Therefore, Fang Zhicheng considered that school selection fees must be paid, but the wool does not have to be paid by the sheep, and the enterprises can be asked to pay the school selection fees for the children of migrant workers. Then, the enterprises can exempt this part of the funds from tax in the form of tax refunds at the end of the year. In other words, in the end, it is the government that uses tax revenue to help these children of migrant workers avoid school selection fees.
The government did not incur losses, but simply redistributed taxes and subsidized schools in advance. The school selection fee may seem high, but it is only a drop in the bucket for a company's profits. Entrepreneurs have solved the problem of schooling for their employees' children, which can also help companies retain employees, killing two birds with one stone.
This is a policy issue concerning finance and education. Fang Zhicheng has had this idea in his mind for a long time, but has never implemented it. He just took today's turmoil as an opportunity to submit this proposal again.
After comforting these petition representatives and letting them leave with peace of mind, Fang Zhicheng called Li Hui in front of Yao Yuan and asked her to contact several key enterprises to raise an education fund through "begging" specifically to solve the schooling problem of children of foreign employees.
Li Hui reported: "County Magistrate Fang, you have explained this to me before. I also know several companies with good performance. They are all willing to invest and establish the 'Outside Employees' Children's Education Fund'."
Fang Zhicheng was slightly startled. He had just mentioned it casually to Li Hui before, but he didn't expect that she had already made a plan. He smiled and said, "I didn't expect that you have such strong execution ability."
Li Hui nodded and smiled: "You are the leader. As a subordinate, you must execute orders at all costs as long as you give them."
Fang Zhicheng continued, "Please take the initiative to contact Director Yao Yuan of the Education Bureau about this matter. You must solve the schooling problem for these 30 students. At the same time, after the fund is raised, you must manage it well and avoid fraud. At the same time, you must manage the fund well and not let it shrink."
Li Hui smiled and said, "County Magistrate Fang, I have an idea. The education fund for children of migrant workers is expected to reach about three to four million yuan each year. If we link this money with the Merchants Service Investment Co., Ltd. and invest in some potential companies, wouldn't it be possible to maintain the value of the fund amount?"
Fang Zhicheng's eyes lit up and he said, "Your idea is excellent. You should start implementing it now. However, you must pay attention to the risk of this fund. It must be controllable and no mistakes can be made."
Li Hui confidently promised: "Don't worry, we have a number of high-growth enterprises in our hands. Once the funds are injected, the returns are foreseeable. At the same time, China Merchants Investment Services Co., Ltd. will set up a fund management department to strictly manage the direction of funds and control risks."
China Merchants Group has now become a dynamic organization, and the energy it has unleashed is beyond his expectations. Fang Zhicheng smiled with satisfaction and said, "Submit a plan for this matter. I will bring it to the government meeting and the Standing Committee meeting and discuss it with other leaders."
After hanging up the phone, Fang Zhicheng said to Yao Yuan, "When you go back, contact several public schools in the county and ask them to vacate places to accommodate those students who have filed petitions within three days. As for the school selection fees, I have asked the Merchants Bureau to find a way. Within a week at most, the school selection fees for these thirty or so students will be fully allocated to the schools."
Yao Yuan was very surprised. He obviously didn't expect Fang Zhicheng to solve the problem in this way. Originally, Yao Yuan had prepared for the worst. After returning, he convened a meeting of the principals of public schools and used administrative orders to require these principals to accept the students.
But this is undoubtedly a method that will cause endless troubles. For schools, the increase in students will correspondingly increase the cost of education, which is not conducive to the normal development of education in the long run.
Fang Zhicheng's method was unique and he was very confident. He used the resources of the China Merchants Group to cover the school selection fees. This kind of magnanimity is something that no other deputy county governor in Dongtai's officialdom possesses.
On the contrary, Deng Hongguo's solution was to use the tactic of delaying first, and if delaying was unsuccessful, then use administrative means to force the school to accept these students. As for the school selection fees, it was impossible to completely waive them, at most only a part of them could be waived.
After the storm was over, Fang Zhicheng returned to the office and improved the solution to the problem of schooling for children of migrant workers. It not only included the use of tax refunds to help the children of migrant workers with their schooling, but also included the establishment of an education fund for the children of migrant workers, using the resources of China Merchants Investment Services Co., Ltd. to revitalize the fund and allow the children of migrant workers to have no worries at all.
Fang Zhicheng also had a new plan for the subsequent development of the investment promotion service company. In addition to the fund for children of migrant workers, other funds can be established. The source of these funds is the major taxpayers in the county. Their main function is to fill in certain vacancies in government functions and help the government improve its basic security capabilities.
Fang Zhicheng's inspiration mainly comes from the modern financial system. He is trying to use China Merchants Group as the main carrier to build a prototype of a financial entity. This financial entity will include investment and financing institutions, trusts, and funds, and will also include new elements such as banks and insurance in the future.
However, this series of financial reform ideas will also be the first proposal formally submitted by Fang Zhicheng after he enters the Standing Committee.
In the county party secretary's office, Sun Weiming, Wang Jingran, and Deng Hongguo were sitting around a coffee table, all waiting for news from the Letters and Calls Office.
Wang Jingran reported in a low voice: "Boss, the petition office just sent a message that all the petitioners were persuaded to leave by Fang Zhicheng. Fang Zhicheng asked Yao Yuan to arrange all the personnel in place within three days. At the same time, he will collect school selection fees for those petitioners and give them to the schools that accept the students within a week."
Sun Weiming frowned slightly and said in a low voice: "The school selection fees for thirty people add up to more than 100,000 yuan. Where did Fang Zhicheng get so much money?"
Wang Jingran said in a deep voice: "He seems to have asked the Merchants Group to find a solution."
Sun Weiming showed a look of realization on his face, and said, "China Merchants Group has a good relationship with a number of enterprises, so it is easy and simple to seek financial support of hundreds of thousands of yuan. However, we cannot open this loophole of Fang Zhicheng easily. If there are frequent petitions in the future, do we have to use money to deal with them? This is an unwise method."
Deng Hongguo echoed with a complaint, "That's what I was thinking. We should delay the migrant workers for a while, and then reduce or exempt some of their school selection fees so that schools can accept them. Now Fang Zhicheng is doing this, which makes it difficult for me to work in the future. If migrant workers' children cannot go to school, they can come to the government to make trouble, because we have set a precedent."
Wang Jingran suggested: "Boss, how about giving Fang Zhicheng a punishment based on this incident?"
Sun Weiming shook his head and said, "How can he be punished? Fang Zhicheng used his own methods to solve the problem for the people. It is illogical to punish him."
Deng Hongguo said in a deep voice: "Although there will be no punishment, I think you should criticize him by name at the Standing Committee meeting."
Sun Weiming remained calm, closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
…
On Friday afternoon, at the Standing Committee meeting, Xing Jike submitted a "Solution to the Problem of Schooling for Children of Migrant Workers", which surprised Sun Weiming because Xing Jike was rarely so proactive at the Standing Committee meetings.