The Failure ofDecentralization of Basic
Education in Mexico
Carlos Ornelas
Professor of Education and Communications
Autonomous Metropolitan University, Mexico City
Visiting professor at CICE, Hiroshima University
May 15, 2014

Thesis With the Agreement for theModernization of Basic Education inMexico, signed in May 1992, thefederal government transferredcertain degree of authority to thestates, but concentrated power.

The Transfer
 With the Agreement for the Modernization of Basic
Education, the federal transferred to the states: More than 14 million students
 513 thousand teaching posts
 115 thousand administratve employees 100 thousand schools 22 million of equipment, forniture and vehicles

Enrolments before and after theAgreement (%)
FederalStatesPrivate

Total

1991

1992

1991

1992

1991

1992

1991

1992

Preschool

7.94

0.98

2.17

9.31

0.96

0.97

11.07

11.77

Primary

40.62

3.84

12.85

49.38

3.62

3.64

57.10

56.85

Work training

0.43

0.46

0.16

0.17

1.02

0.96

1.62

1.59

Junior secondary

11.38

1.75

3.78

13.46

1.34

1.35

16.50

16.56

Vocational (highschool)

0.88

0.87

0.28

0.25

0.47

0.50

1.63

1.62

Secondary

2.30

2.38

3.02

3.06

1.521.52

6.84

6.96

Teacher colleges(normal)

0.12

0.02

0.19

0.30

0.11

0.12

0.42

0.44

Higher

0.80

0.80

3.13

2.94

0.90

0.97

4.83

4.71

Sum

64.47

11.10

25.59

78.87

9.94

10.03

100

100

Goals of the Agreement
1. To enhance the quality ofeducation
2. To improve the social conditionsof the teaching force
3. To make the management of thesystem more effective

Means to carry on
1. Quality: curriculum reform, new textbooks,
evaluation
2. Improve the living conditions of teachers:
better salaries, professional development,
incentives (moral and monetary).
3. More effective management: decentralization
to the states through the new federalism

Federalism: Constitutionalorganization and ideology
Types of federalism

1. Classic
2. Fiction
3. Constitutional (baroque)4. New Federalism

Beaurocratic centralism
Means of control
1. Normative (regulations)
2. Technical
3. Allocation of resources
4. PoliticalFederal government decision
making atributes (power)
1. To determine for the whole nation the basic
education and teacher training curricula.

8. To regulate a national system of credits
and educational equivalents.

2. To establish the national school calendar.

9. To have a national register of educationalinstitutions.

3. To elaborate and update the free textbooks.
4. To authorize the use of any other book forbasic education.

10. To design guidelines for the Councils ofSocial Participation.

5. To prepare general guidelines for the use ofteaching materials.

11. To realize planning, programming andevaluation of the national system ofeducation.

6. To regulate the system of education, inservice training and professional upgrading ofteachers.

12. To coordinate cultural relations withother countries.

7. To fix the pedagogical requisites of curricula
for private preschools.

13. All the necessary measures to guarantee
the national character of basic educationand teacher training institutions

States administrative duties(authority) 1. To provide basic education and teacher training services.
 2. To propose to SEP the regional curricular contents for basic
education and teacher training.
 3. To adjust, if necessary, the school calendar to local needs.
 4. To provide in-service training for teachers according to SEP
determinations.
 5. To accept degrees of other states according to SEP regulations.
 6. To supply, reject or revoke authorization to the private sector tocreate and operate basic education and teacher training services.

The power of education