The input of funds from Beijing's municipal revenues to raise the salaries of teachers is a sound experiment, says an article in Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:

The educational bureau chief in Beijing recently said that the city is considering investing 280 million yuan ($41 million) to bridge the income gap between civil servants and teachers. The goal that the average income of teachers should not be lower than that of local civil servants, as stipulated in the Compulsory Education Law, will hopefully be achieved in Beijing.

While several other laws concerning education have similar aims, the reality of achieving this is not that simple.

In our view, the root cause lies in the lack of a feasible protection mechanism for teachers. Although the central and provincial governments have been concerned about the low income of teachers, it is local financial revenues that bear the burden of paying the salaries of teachers.

To boost the income of teachers, central and provincial financial revenues must get involved. Two benefits can be achieved by doing so.

First, it can balance the distribution of educational resources. As data shows, the salaries of teachers account for some 70 percent of the expenditure for compulsory education. The disparity between teachers in their income leads to the unbalanced distribution of educational resources, excellent teachers naturally switch from rural areas to cities, from common schools to key schools in the same city.

Second, it will better protect the interests of teachers as local governments will not have to worry about this expenditure, so too for governments in poverty-stricken regions.