program and, in particular, teachers’ eligibility for the professional allowance. According to a recent media report, school principals and teachers in Cianjur, West Java, have experienced delays in receiving the professional allowance where school principals have been in place for too long ( _Pikiran Rakyat_ 2015).<sup>33</sup> In Municipality A, the earlier implementation of the periodization requirements reflected the fact that FAGI and FGII, two independent teachers' groups, and the Municipality A Education Coalition (KPKMA), an NGO group—all of which have a strong local presence—launched a sustained campaign to demand implementation of the periodization regulations beginning in the early to mid-2000s. This campaign was aimed at trying to i) break the networks of corruption that exist between schools and the local education agency; ii) in so doing, improve the quality of public school management; and iii) provide opportunities for the next generation of teachers to gain promotion.<sup>34</sup> It attracted significant media attention and entailed a threat to take the local government to the State Administrative Court (PTUN). The latter was particularly important to the extent that it opened up the possibility that local education agency officials could be subject to extortion by the court’s judges.<sup>35</sup> Having decided to implement periodization, the issue for the local government then became how to manage the politics around its implementation. Periodization evoked some resistance from school principals.<sup>36</sup> In the end, this was defused by promoting most outgoing school principals to _pengawas_ (supervisor), a decision that preserved their income levels (but also reduced any prospective budgetary savings from the policy). Only a small number of school principals opted to return to teaching duties. At the same time, three school principals were not discontinued: two who headed _sekolah favorit_ and one with strong political connections.<sup>37</sup> The chair of a Primary School Principals Working Group (KKKS) in District B told us that primary school principals in his area had made it clear to the head of the local education agency branch (UPTD) that they would prefer the government adopt this same solution, rather than returning principals to teaching, when periodization is implemented in that district.<sup>38</sup> In contrast to the three previous policy issues examined here, then, the issue of periodization— and in particular the experience of Municipality A in relation to this issue—suggests that teacher management reform can occur at the local level when three conditions are met: i) independent civil society groups are active; ii) they are able to launch effective public campaigns demanding reform, exploiting their ability to access the independent media and, if necessary, the courts; and iii) local governments are able to find effective ways of buying off the losers from reform. At the same time, the experiences of Municipality B and District B suggest that teacher management reform is possible when it aligns with the needs of local political and patronage networks, in particular, the need for local elites to ensure that teachers continue, as clients within these networks, to receive all monies that are due to them.

> 33 The cause of this delay is unclear but it is possible that it is related to the introduction of Dapodik, MoEC’s new education database. According to a local education agency official in the fifth district, Dapodik will not allow a school principal’s name to be entered for a second four year period at the same school, jeopardizing teachers’ eligibility for the professional allowance if the school principal remains in place for more than one term. This has led to a local policy of rotating school principals every four years.

> 34 Interviews with activists from FAGI/FGII, May 2015, and KPKMA, June 2015.

> 35 Interview with FAGI/FGII activist, Municipality A, May 2015.

> 36 Interview with FAGI/FGII activist, Municipality A, May 2015.

> 37 Interview with FAGI/FGII activist, Municipality A, May 2015.

> 38 Interview, July 2015.

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