This Act is formulated to promote educational innovation, encourage the private sector’s involvement in experimental education at public schools at the senior high school level or below（hereunder referred to as “schools”）, protect the right to learn and receive education, improve opportunities to choose educational method and content, enhance diverse development in education, and implement the provisions of Article 13 of the Educational Fundamental Act.

In this Act the term “competent authority” refers to the Ministry of Education at the central government level, to the municipal government at the special municipality level, and the county or city government at the county or city level.

The following terms used in this Act are defined as follows:
1.Commissioning a private operator: refers to the competent authority that authorizes the establishment of schools（hereunder referred to as “the relevant competent authority”）entering into an administrative contract with a commissioned party commissioning that party to operate an entire school or to operate a branch, division, or distinct program of a school, or a part of the campus or buildings of a newly established school that can be clearly delineated and separated. The commissioned operation shall be based on the nature of the education that the school provides and encompass use of school land, buildings, and teaching facilities, school district zoning, collection of tuition and fees in accordance with the law, curriculum, personnel management of the principal, teaching personnel, and other staff, administrative organization, the staffing complement, class organization principles, teaching assessment, use of school funds, and school evaluation.
2.Commissioned party: refers to a natural person with domestic nationality, a non-profit private corporation, or a non-government organization or group commissioned by the relevant competent authority to operate a school. However, a school endowment corporation and any private school or short-term supplementary learning center that it has established is not permitted to be a commissioned party.
3.Consigned school: refers to a public school that the relevant competent authority has commissioned the operation of to a commissioned party that still remains a public school.
The criteria to be met for the establishment of the newly-established school referred to in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph may be exempt from the provisions of ordinances that pertain to the establishment of schools at each educational level.
The natural person, or legal representative or person in charge of a private corporation, non-government organization or group referred to in Subparagraph 2 of the preceding paragraph is not permitted to be someone to whom any of the situations stipulated in the subparagraphs of Paragraph 1, Article 31 of the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators pertain.

When a private sector operator of a school is commissioned, the relevant competent authority shall provide the consigned school with personnel funding equivalent to that for the teaching and other staff in the staffing complement of other schools of the same level and size, and equivalent funding to cover, building and equipment expenses, and operating costs. The personnel budget shall be adjusted annually based on the salary and wages of teachers, and other personnel.
The part of the personnel expenses referred to in the preceding paragraph paid to teachers shall be calculated using the criteria governing the payments for full-time teachers.
The consigned school may allocate the funding referred to in Paragraph 1 move flexibly between the various use items listed on the budget, with the exception that the consigned school is not permitted to divert any of the personnel budget to another use and is not permitted to divert any funds for capital expenditures to any other use..
The consigned school shall provide education in a way that protects students’ right to receive education and puts the public welfare, public purpose, efficacy, experimental nature, diversity, and innovation of basic national education into practice.

A consigned school is permitted to not apply the provisions of the laws, their associated regulations, and this is the correct term for self-governing regulations despite all the mistakes online listed below pertaining to school district zoning, collection of tuition and fees in accordance with the law, curriculum, the principal, the employment of teaching personnel and other staff, administrative organization, personnel numbers and the staffing complement, class organization principles, and teaching assessment:
1.Paragraph 2 of Article 4, Paragraph 3 of Article 5, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 6, Paragraph 1 of Article 8, Article 8-2, Paragraphs 1 to 5 of Article 9, Paragraphs 2 to 4 and 6 of Article 10, and Articles 12, 13, and 18 of the Primary and Junior High School Act.
2.Articles 14, 16, 18 and 19, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 20, Paragraph 1 of Article 24, Articles 30 and 33, Paragraph 1 of Article 39, Paragraph 1 of Article 43, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 45, Articles 46, 48 and 49, and Paragraph 4 of Article 56 of the Senior High School Education Act.
3.Articles 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 21, 27, and 28 of the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators.
The relevant competent authority shall clearly state which aspects of the legislative items listed in the previous paragraph that will not apply and alternative arrangements that will replace them in the administrative contract entered into with the commissioned party.
The consigned school shall handle the appointment of teaching personnel, student admissions, curriculum, and teaching in accordance with the provisions of the Gender Equity Education Act.

When a private sector operator of a school is being commissioned, the relevant competent authority shall first invite scholars, experts, local community figures, and parents or related persons to undertake a project evaluation of doing so and hold a public hearing. If, however, the proposed commissioning to the private sector is for the operation of an indigenous key school that provides elementary and/or junior high school level education, after obtaining written consent from at least half of the adult indigenous people in the school district concerned who have their household registration there, the natural person, non-profit private corporation, or non-government organization or group may submit a request to the relevant competent authority to undertake a project evaluation and hold a public hearing, and the relevant competent authority is not permitted to refuse such a request.
When a private sector operator of a designated school is being commissioned, the natural person, non-profit private corporation, or non-government organization or group may apply to the relevant competent authority for approval for the applicant to conduct a project evaluation and hold a public hearing; after conducting the evaluation and holding the public hearing, the applicant shall compile the data from the evaluation and the public hearing and submit it to the relevant competent authority to review and decide whether the proposed private sector operator passed the evaluation.
Before planning to cease a school’s operations or to amalgamate a school with another school, the relevant competent authority may undertake a project evaluation and hold a public hearing in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1, then commission a private sector operator.

After the completion of the project evaluation referred to in the preceding article, the relevant competent authority shall announce details of the eligibility criteria for being commissioned, the commission period, rights and obligations, the selection criteria, the application deadline, and the decision procedure, and accept applications.

The applications referred to in the preceding article shall include submission of an operation plan that sets out details of the following:
1.The name and domicile or residence of an applicant who is a natural person; or the name and the main office, business office, or work premises of an applicant which is a private corporation, or a non-government organization or group;
2.Plan implementation period ;
3.The goals, philosophy, features, and expected outcomes of the education that will be provided;
4.Any planned permitted exemptions to legislative provisions in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 5, the reasons for planning such exemptions, and alternative arrangements;The qualifications and expertise of the principal to be hired;
5.The educational qualifications, experience, and expertise of the proposed principal to be appointed;
6.Proposed administrative organization and staffing complement;
7.Method of hiring personnel and related matters;
8.Curriculum planning and instructional design;
9.Campus planning, environment design, and teaching facilities plan;
10.Recruitment target, student enrollment, and class sizes;
11.Short-term, mid-term, and long-term financial planning;
12.Other details required by the relevant competent authority.
Each relevant competent authority shall ask suitable scholars and experts to conduct an initial review of the operation plan referred to in the preceding paragraph. A further review of the operation plan shall be undertaken by the special municipality, county, or city education review committee respectively, depending on whether the school is a special municipality, county, or city school, or undertaken by a school education review committee set up by the central competent authority for a national school（the term “education review committee” below indicates the education review committee for the school）. If the applicant passes the further review, the relevant competent authority shall approve commissioning the applicant to operate the school and after making the arrangements, notify the applicant and make a public announcement.
A special municipality, county, or city education review committee which reviews an operation plan involving indigenous educational affairs shall appoint one or two additional committee members who have an indigenous identity to participate in the review; if an operation plan involves experimental education the education review committee shall appoint one or two additional committee members familiar with experimental education to participate in the review; the appointment of the additional committee members for this review and “dismissal” and “removal” are both punitive, unsuitable here. are not subject to the restrictions pertaining to the committee members, or the total number of committee members of a special municipality, county, or city education review committee, or their term limits.

The applicant shall enter into an administrative contract with the relevant competent authority within one month from the day after being notified that the commissioning of private operations has been approved, and apart from the operation plan approved after the further review referred to in Paragraph 2 of the preceding article, the administrative contract shall include the following:
1.Name and location of the school;
2.The duration of the commission to operate the school;
3.Enrollment date, and the school districts the school may accept students from;
4.Matters for which the relevant competent authority shall provide assistance;
5.The expenses each party shall bear and the matters each party shall handle;
6.Specific performance indicators;
7.Transfer management objectives;
8.Handling of breach; and
9.Other related matters.

The applicant shall complete the following tasks within three months after entering into an administrative contract, and after reporting details to the relevant competent authority and receiving approval, organize student enrollments:
1.Obtain letters of agreement to employment from the principal, teaching personnel, and other staff;
2.Complete curriculum planning, teaching and activity design, preparation of teaching resources to be used, and other teaching preparations; and
3.Complete preparations for student enrollment.
A commissioned party that fails to complete the tasks referred to in the previous paragraph may apply for an extension. Such an extension is not permitted to exceed three months; if the tasks have not been completed by the end of the extension, the relevant competent authority may revoke the approval given and rescind the contract.
When a commissioned party considers that some change to the administrative contract is necessary, it shall draw up and submit a draft amended version to the relevant competent authority, and make the amendments if the relevant competent authority approves the draft. If the amendments involve any change to the operation plan, the commissioned party shall also draw up and submit an amended operation plan to the relevant competent authority. The relevant competent authority shall submit it to the education review committee to deliberate over, and if the relevant competent authority gives approval the commissioned party shall make the changes to the operation plan,

The current principal, teachers, and other staff within the staffing complement who before the relevant competent authority commissioned a private sector operator of a school were appointed or employed by the original school in accordance with the related regulations for appointing teaching personnel, and civil servants who on the date that the commission begins, transfer to continue working at the consigned school, shall retain their status as teaching personnel and civil servants. Their employment, service, disciplinary measures, performance appraisal, training, advanced study, salary, insurance, guarantees, right to form an association, retirement, severance payment, bereavement compensation, welfare benefits, and other rights shall be handled applying the related regulations for teaching personnel and civil servants that respectively applied to such personnel before the transfer date.
The management of the human resources personnel and accounting personnel included in the personnel referred to in the preceding paragraph who continue working at the consigned school shall be handled in the same way as other civil servants are managed.
The promotion and civil service assessments of the civil servants referred to in the preceding two paragraphs who continue working at the consigned school may be handled in accordance with the provisions of the organic laws and regulations that applied before the date that the commission begins.
The provisions of Articles 15 to 18 shall apply to the personnel referred to in Paragraphs 1 and 2 who retire or leave employment with severance pay and are subsequently employed by the commissioned party, and any monthly pension payments and favorable savings plan shall be suspended

The relevant competent authority shall first consider what the principal, teachers, and other staff referred to in Paragraph 1 of the preceding article who are not willing to transfer to the consigned school are willing to do instead and then offer them work placements on a case by case basis or shall arrange their retirement or departure with severance pay on the date that the commission, in accordance with the regulations that apply.

If teaching personnel who before the relevant competent authority commissions a private sector operator of a school were employed by the original school in accordance with the provisions of the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators or were employed on a part time basis outside the staffing complement transfer to continue their employment at the consigned school on the date that the commission begins, the formerly used provisions of the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators shall continue to be applied until the expiration of their employment contract.

The commissioned party shall recognize and continue the working conditions and already accumulated service period of each worker for whom the original school applied the provisions of the Labor Standard Act apply who transfers to the commissioned party on the date that the commission begins. If any such worker is not willing to transfer to the commissioned party, in accordance with the law the original school shall give them advance notice of the termination of their labor contract and pay severance pay or retirement payment in accordance with the provisions of the legislation that applies.
The service staff currently engaged by the original school（including technicians and drivers; referred to below as “service staff at the original school”）in accordance with the current Directions Governing Management of Coworkers（formerly the Regulations Governing General Affairs）on the date that the commission begins may retain their position in accordance with the original regulations or they may transfer to the commissioned party. When service workers transfer to the commissioned party retire or leave with severance pay, the handling of their retirement or departure with severance pay that was governed by the ordinances that applied on the date that the commission begins shall change to being handled in accordance with the personnel management regulations of the consigned school.
The relevant competent authority shall arrange work placements on a case by case basis for the service staff at the original school referred to in the preceding paragraph who are not willing to transfer to the commissioned party, and the organization（agency）where they are placed shall recognize and continue their already accumulated service period.

The commissioned party may appoint a person with expertise in a particular field to be the principal, based on school development and provision of education related requirements, and it may give preference to appointing a person who has the qualifications to be a school principal stipulated in the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators. The provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 16 shall apply regarding the rights and obligations of the principal.
If a principal referred to in the preceding paragraph does not have the qualifications stipulated in the Act of Governing the Appointment of Educators, if the person has a teacher certificate their rights and obligations shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 3 of Article 16; if the person does not have a teacher certificate, their rights and obligations shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 5 of Article 16.

The commissioned party may engage persons with expertise in specific subjects or disciplines to work as teaching personnel, based on school development and provision of education related requirements and may give preference to appointing persons with a teacher certificate.
The rights and obligations of any full-time teachers who hold a teacher certificate within the staffing complement to whom Paragraph 1 of Article 11 does not apply shall be handled applying the ordinances governing the rights and obligations of teachers within the staffing complement of a public school. However, if overtime payments, bonuses, and welfare matters are dealt with in any separate agreement made between the relevant competent authority and the commissioned party, and between the consigned school and the teachers, if the provisions of the personnel management regulations of the consigned school provide more benefits, then those provisions shall apply
The following provisions shall apply to any full-time teachers who have a teacher certificate who are employed outside the school’s staffing complement:
1.Retirement, bereavement compensation, leaving employment with severance pay, and insurance matters shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the personnel management regulations of the consigned school, and the ordinances pertaining to public school teachers do not apply.
2.The ordinances governing teachers within the staffing complement of public schools shall apply to the rights and obligations of persons not referred to in the preceding paragraph. However, if overtime payments, bonuses, and welfare matters are dealt with in any separate agreement made between the relevant competent authority and the commissioned party, or between the commissioned party and the teachers, if the provisions of the consigned school’s personnel management regulations provide more benefits, then those provisions shall apply.
When the consigned school handles payments of its teachers retirement, bereavement compensation, severance pay, and insurance in accordance with the ordinances that apply, calculation of the work seniority accumulated by the teachers before the promulgation of this Act shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the ordinances that apply.
The remuneration and welfare matters of teaching personnel who do not hold a teacher certificate shall be handled in accordance with the terms of an agreement made between the commissioned party and each teaching personnel member and the personnel management regulations of the consigned school, and the provisions of the ordinances pertaining to public school teachers do not apply to their retirement, bereavement compensation, leaving employment with severance pay, and insurance matters. Their work seniority accumulated teaching at one or more public schools after they have obtained a teacher certificate, in an equivalent position and with a good service record may be included in the annual determination of their salary scale without exceeding the highest seniority-salary class for the position currently held.
A teacher currently employed at another public school who has obtained permission from the school where they have a position and from the relevant competent authority may be seconded to a consigned school and take up the post of principal or a teaching position within its staffing complement, for a total period that is not permitted to exceed three years. The consigned school is responsible for their remuneration and welfare payments. When the secondment period comes to an end, the person shall return to the school where they were formerly working which shall hold a position for them to return to.
The consigned school shall make the teacher’s monthly contribution to the Retirement and Compensation Fund during the secondment period referred to in the preceding paragraph in accordance with the provisions of the Statute Governing the Retirement of School Faculty and Staff.

When appointing a foreigner to teach an academic subject or foreign language, or engage in teacher education, curriculum development, or activity promotion work who is required to have a work permit, the commissioned party may submit related documents and apply to the central competent authority for a permit; teachers who are qualified to teach foreign language（s）are not subject to the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 46, and Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2 of Article 48 of the Employment Service Act.
The regulations governing the teaching qualifications, number of teachers, weekly work hours, review criteria, applying for a permit, permit cancellation, employment management, and other associated matters pertaining to the foreigners referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.
The management of any other employment of a foreigner who is employed by a commissioning party in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of Subparagraphs 1 to 6 of Paragraph 1 of Article 46 of the Employment Service Act if the foreigner engages in work stipulated there; their visits, residence, and permanent residence shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration Act.

New non-teaching staff employed by a consigned school after the date that the commission begins shall be handled in accordance with the terms of the contract between the commissioned party and such staff and the consigned school’s personnel management regulations, and the regulations governing civil servants do not apply.

The commissioned party shall draw up the major operation directions for the administrative organization, personnel allocation, and personnel management regulations of the consigned school, based on the size of the consigned school, and submit these to the relevant competent authority for review and approval.
The number of teachers in the staffing complement of a consigned school is not permitted to be less than the number stipulated in the related regulations for public schools.
If the funding referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 4 provided by the relevant competent authority to cover personnel costs is not sufficient to cover the consigned school’s necessary personnel expenses, the consigned school shall raise the further personnel funding and it is not permitted to divert funds allocated for other purposes.
All of the consigned school’s revenue of all forms shall be used to pay the costs of educational activities and budget item expenditures, and it is not permitted to use any for profit or for any other expenditure for conduct with a non-educational purpose.

The spouse or any third degree or closer blood relative or relative by marriage of a commissioned party or of their representative, person in charge, or board member or of the principal is not permitted to hold position or engage in related work in the general affairs, accounting, or personnel section of the consigned school. Any such person who already had a non-teaching position in the general affairs, accounting, or personnel section before the administrative contract was entered into or before the principal took up their post shall be re-assigned to other non-teaching positions or work.
If any personnel member is employed in violation of the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the relevant competent authority shall order the commissioned party or the principal to remove that person from their position immediately; if the commissioned party or the principal does not do so immediately, the relevant competent authority may take direct action to remove that person from their position.

When the operation of a public elementary school or a public junior high school is commissioned to a private operator and the competent authority at the special municipality, county, or city government level and the commissioned party determine school district zoning in their administrative contract, other school districts may be included without being limited by the school district zoning of the original school. If the number of students applying to enroll exceeds the number of places available, the order of household registration dates or drawing lots lottery shall be used to determine priority sequence for admission to the school.
After considering community development, demographic changes, traffic conditions, and the school environment factors and holding a public hearing, the special municipality, county, or city competent authority may adjust that part of the administrative contract pertaining to the school district zoning referred to in the preceding paragraph.
The competent special municipality, county, or city authority shall assist the parents of a students within the school district who are unwilling to enroll in the consigned school to transfer the students to other nearby schools in accordance with the parents’ preference and the competent special municipality, county, or city authority shall subsidize their transport expenses. The schools receiving transfer students shall provide life and learning guidance for the students in the light of actual needs and shall take into consideration the special nature of experimental education and be as lenient as possible in accordance with the relevant regulations when determining which experimental education course credits to accept.

Class sizes at a consigned school are not permitted to exceed the number stipulated in the associated regulations that apply to public schools. The regulations pertaining to teaching equipment in public schools shall also apply to the teaching equipment in a consigned school, unless the relevant competent authority approves otherwise.

The relevant competent authority shall set up evaluation teams to conduct regular or non-regular evaluation and guidance of any consigned school.
The evaluation referred to in the preceding paragraph may be commissioned to suitable academic institute or group. The aspects to be evaluated, evaluation method and related matters shall be made public before the evaluation, and the evaluation results shall be made public after the evaluation. Parents may be invited to offer comments when the evaluation is being conducted. The relevant competent authority may give a school that is evaluated as excellent a reward and if a school is evaluated as not meeting standards, the relevant competent authority may issue a written demand for the school to improve the situation within a given deadline and commission a follow up assessment. The relevant competent authority may order further improvements within a given deadline if the school fails to pass the follow up assessment.
The regulations governing the evaluation, and rewards referred to in the preceding paragraph, and guidance shall be prescribed by the relevant competent authority.
The relevant competent authority at each level may provide a budget allocation for subsidies for schools. The central competent authority shall prioritize subsidies based on the financial rating of the special municipality, county, or city government and the funds provided shall be allocated for specific purposes and used for specific purposes.

If the evaluation referred to in the preceding article finds the consigned school is excellent, the relevant competent authority may give priority to continuing the commission when the period of the commission to operate the school ends.

If a trustee intends to continue operating the school after the commissioned period ends, the trustee shall submit a provision of education performance report, financial report, school evaluation report, and future operation plan to the relevant competent authority and apply for a contract renewal, no later than one year before the commissioned period is due to end.

When the commissioned period ends, if the commissioned party’s application for renewal that was submitted in accordance with the provisions of the preceding article is denied, or if the commissioned party does not want to renew, or if the contract is terminated in accordance with the provisions of Article 27 or Paragraph 2 of Article 28, operation of the consigned school shall become the responsibility of the relevant competent authority, and it shall appoint a suitable person to be acting principal to handle school affairs until a new principal is selected and takes up their appointment. The regulations governing the selection of public school principals do not apply to the appointment of an acting principal.
Unless otherwise stipulated in the administrative contract, if the situation referred to in the preceding paragraph takes place the commissioned party shall quickly transfer all the property, operation rights, student records, and school administration files of the consigned school to the relevant competent authority.
The relevant competent authority shall draw up the legislation and the autonomous regulations for handling the matters associated with the organizing of the transfer of operations.

If any one of the situations set out in the following subparagraphs occurs, the relevant competent authority shall terminate the administrative contract, after it has submitted the matter to the education review committee and the education review committee has passed a resolution:
1.The commissioned party or the consigned school is engaging in profit seeking or illegal activity;
2.The commissioned party or the consigned school is experiencing financial difficulties to the extent that the normal operations of the school are being affected and the students’ rights are being harmed;
3.Some other situation has occurred at the consigned school that is seriously affecting school operations and students’ rights; or
4.The consigned school underwent a further assessment in accordance with the provisions of Article 23 and failed to pass and then failed to make satisfactory improvements before the second deadline given by the relevant competent authority.
Before the education review committee deliberates and passes the resolution referred to in the preceding paragraph, a public hearing shall be convened and teachers, students, and their parents shall be invited to participate.

If the relevant competent authority terminates the administrative contract before the commission to operate the school ends, it shall do so at the end of the then current school year. However if any one of the situations referred to in the subparagraphs of the preceding article occurs, this restriction does not apply
If the commissioned party may terminate the administrative contract because it is difficult to operate the school well, or terminate it in accordance with the terms of the administrative contract or the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act,the commissioned party shall submit an application to the relevant competent authority at least six months before the end of the school year. The application shall be submitted to the education review committee and after the education review committee has passed a resolution, the relevant competent authority shall terminate the administrative contract.

If there are students who need to transfer to another school because the contract commissioning a consigned elementary school or junior high school has been terminated or has expired, the relevant competent special municipality, county, or city authority shall consider the parents’ wishes, and assist those students to transfer to a nearby school which still has enrollment vacancies available.

When the commissioned period ends, if the commissioned party and the relevant competent authority are not continuing the commission, teachers and other staff, and teachers within the staffing complement to whom the ordinances governing public school teachers apply in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 16 who transfer to the consigned school in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 11, shall continue to be employed by their respective original schools, unless they arrange to leave employment with severance pay or retire.
The commissioned party shall be solely responsible for employees other than the teaching personnel and other staff referred to in the preceding paragraph unless they arrange to leave employment with severance pay.

A commissioned party or principal who is in violation of the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 19 shall be subject to a fine of between TWD 50,000 and TWD 200,000, levied by the relevant competent authority. If the commissioned party or principal is also in violation of the Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest, application of the penalty provisions of that Act shall take precedence.

If the operation of a school was already commissioned to a private sector operator in accordance with the provisions of the applicable legislation before the promulgation of this Act, that commissioned party may operate the school in accordance with the terms of the original contract until that contract expires, after which the provisions of this Act shall apply.

The enforcement rules of this Act shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

This Act comes into effect on the date of promulgation.