School district - Gakku

They have a meaning as an educational administrative unit area and a meaning as a school district for children and students. In the former case, the method of setting up educational administrative districts separately from general administrative districts has a unique significance, while in the United States, a unique school district system was developed by combining a board of education system and a school tax system that were independent of general administration. In Japan, the "school system" of 1872 (Meiji 5) divided the country into 8 university districts, each university district into 32 middle school districts, and each middle school district into 210 elementary school districts, and school districts were adopted as educational administrative districts. Later, it is said that they had the significance of school districts in terms of social function. After the establishment of the school system, a general administrative system based on cities, towns, and villages was established, and school districts with a unique meaning as educational administrative districts disappeared, and general administrative units came to be regarded as educational administrative units.

The explicit establishment of school districts as commuting areas is intended to ensure equal educational opportunities by standardizing the quantity and quality of students at each school, but the existence of real school disparities has also given rise to the problem of students enrolling across school boundaries based on convenient address settings.

Regarding the setting of commuting zones for public elementary and junior high schools, the municipal board of education is to designate which school prospective students should attend when there are two or more elementary or junior high schools established in the municipality (Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the Enforcement Order of the School Education Law). In response to this, the Provisional Council on Education proposed expanding opportunities for choice in education in 1987, and the Ministry of Education (now the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) indicated the need to consider more flexible application of the designation of schools that students should attend in accordance with local conditions, but no progress was made in reality. In light of this, the Administrative Reform Committee again strongly proposed in 1996 to promote more flexible school choice ("Opinions on the Promotion of Deregulation (Second Edition)"), and the Ministry of Education issued a notice in line with this proposal in 1997. In addition to taking measures that fully consider the wishes of parents when implementing the school district system, instructions were given to flexibly implement the system overall, including measures to change school designations and publicize the system of out-of-district enrollment. As a result, for example, in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, a system was introduced in 2000 in which elementary schools in the ward were divided into four groups, allowing parents to choose the school within the group that they would like their children to attend, and changes have been seen in the school district (school district) system at the elementary and junior high school levels. On the other hand, among the local governments that introduced the school choice system, there are some that have decided to abolish it, and the current situation is one in which there is a gradually growing atmosphere of trying to assess the effects of deregulation in education.

On the other hand, for public (prefectural or municipal) high schools, the prefectural board of education used to determine the commuting districts of high schools that students should attend. In line with the above-mentioned purpose, the Japanese high school system after World War II adopted a small school district system (one school per district) as a rule, but under the advocacy of freedom of school choice and meritocratic policy trends, a transition to a junior high school and university district system progressed from 1963 (Showa 38). At the same time, some local governments tried to improve the selection system, such as the school group system, with the aim of eliminating disparities between high schools within a school district and preventing the harmful effects of competition to enter higher education. However, after that, the demand for freedom of school choice at the high school level grew stronger, and in 2001 (Heisei 13), the regulations regarding commuting districts for public high schools were deleted as a result of deregulation policies, and the setting of commuting districts for public high schools was left to the discretion of each board of education (Law Partially Amending the Law Concerning the Organization and Administration of Local Educational Administration).

[Hiroshi Araki and Masaaki Hayo]

"Mikami Kazuo, 'School District System and Resident Rights' (1988, Otsuki Shoten)" ▽ "Hayo Masaaki, 'Study of the Elementary School Commuting Area System - The Structure and Planning of District Divisions' (1998, Taga Publishing)" ▽ "Mikami Kazuo, 'School District System and School Choice' (2002, Otsuki Shoten)" ▽ "Chiba Masashi, 'Study of the School District System - State Power and Village Communities' On-Demand Edition (2003, Keiso Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

教育行政単位区域としての意味と、児童・生徒の通学区域としての意味がある。前者では、一般行政区とは別に教育行政区を設定する方式が固有の意義をもち、アメリカでは一般行政から独立した教育委員会制度と学校税制度をあわせて独自の学区school district制度を発達させた。日本では、1872年（明治5）の「学制」で全国を8大学区に分け、各大学区を32中学区に、さらに各中学区を210小学区に分けて、教育行政区としての学区が採用された。後に、それは社会機能としては通学区域の意義を有したとされる。学制の制定の後、市町村を単位とする一般行政制度が確立され、教育行政区域としての固有の意味をもつ学区はなくなり、一般行政の単位が教育行政単位とされるようになった。

　通学区域としての学区の明示的な設定は、学校ごとの就学者の量的質的な均一化を通して教育の機会均等を図ろうとするところにあるが、現実の学校格差の存在ゆえに便法的な住所設定に基づく越境入学の問題も発生することとなった。

　公立小・中学校の通学区域設定に関しては、市町村教育委員会は、当該市町村の設置する小学校または中学校が2校以上あるとき、就学予定者の就学すべき学校を指定することになっている（学校教育法施行令第5条第2項）。これに対し、1987年（昭和62）に臨時教育審議会が教育における選択の機会の拡大を提案し、これを受けて文部省（現、文部科学省）から、地域の実情に即した児童生徒の就学すべき学校指定の弾力的運用について検討の必要があることが示されたが、その実態においては進展がみられなかった。このような経過から、1996年（平成8）に改めて行政改革委員会から学校選択の弾力化の推進が強く提案され（「規制緩和の推進に関する意見（第二次）」）、文部省からもこの提案に沿った通知が1997年に発表された。通学区域制度運用にあたっては保護者の意向に十分配慮した措置を講ずることのほか、学校指定の変更措置や区域外就学制度の周知を図ることなど、全体として通学区域制度の弾力的運用が指示された。その結果、たとえば東京都品川区では、2000年（平成12）から区内小学校を4グループに分け、保護者がその児童を入学させたい学校をグループ内から選べる制度が導入されるなど、小・中学校レベルの学区（通学区域）制度に変化がみられるに至っている。反面、学校選択制を導入した自治体のなかには、学校選択制の廃止に踏み切るケースも出現し、教育の規制緩和の効果を見定めようという気運が徐々に広がる雰囲気が見られるのが現在の状況といってよい。

　他方、公立（都道府県立・市町村立）高等学校に関しては、従来、都道府県教育委員会が就学希望者の就学すべき高等学校の通学区域を定めることになっており、第二次世界大戦後の日本の高等学校制度では、前記趣旨に沿って小学区制（1学区1校）が原則とされたが、学校選択の自由の主張と能力主義的な政策動向の下(もと)に1963年（昭和38）以降、中・大学区制への移行が進んだ。それとともにいくつかの地方公共団体では、学区内高等学校間の格差解消や進学競争の弊害防止の目的で、学校群制度など選抜制度改善の試みも導入された。しかしその後、高等学校レベルにおける学校選択の自由への要求が強まり、2001年（平成13）には規制緩和政策により、公立高校の通学区域にかかわる規定が削除され、公立高校の通学区域の設定については、各教育委員会の判断にゆだねられることになった（地方教育行政の組織及び運営に関する法律の一部を改正する法律）。

［荒木　廣・葉養正明］

『三上和夫著『学区制度と住民の権利』（1988・大月書店）』▽『葉養正明著『小学校通学区域制度の研究――区割の構造と計画』（1998・多賀出版）』▽『三上和夫著『学区制度と学校選択』（2002・大月書店）』▽『千葉正士著『学区制度の研究――国家権力と村落共同体』オンデマンド版（2003・勁草書房）』

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