Qing Yao

Chapter 176 We are raising money for the imperial court
The profit-sharing policy was established by Zhao An when he started the program of allowing students to study outside the school. Now that the policy has taken root and borne fruit, everyone in the school has put in a lot of effort. Principal Zhao An only makes decisions on many things, while the school officials are responsible for the specific implementation. They are busy running around and are exhausted. There is no reason not to fulfill the promise made at the beginning.

In the section on "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness," Principal Zhao emphasized the word "trustworthiness."

Without integrity, one cannot stand.

Heshen had already seen the huge business opportunity in the school-borrowing program, which had been proven by facts, and demanded that Zhao An promote the school-borrowing program throughout Jiangsu Province next year, with all the fees collected going into the internal treasury.

The Prime Minister of the Central Plains, Agui, was also eyeing the tuition fees for students studying outside their hometowns. He instructed his confidant, Fusong, the Governor of Jiangsu, to demand that Zhao An deposit the tuition fees into the national treasury.

Between Heshen, who represents the old master, and Agui, who represents the imperial court, Zhao An would definitely choose Heshen.

There was nothing that could be done about it; Zhao An had made his fortune through bribery, and it was Heshen who had gotten him out of prison.

Without Heshen, he wouldn't be where he is today. Therefore, if Zhao An didn't champion Heshen's cause, he would be a terrible person.

However, we can't hand over all the profits to the Imperial Household Department, otherwise we would be doing all the work for someone else.

In later generations, when schools in various regions adopted the system of allowing students to study outside their local area, although the local authorities collected the majority of the tuition fees, the schools also benefited, which is why they actively cooperated.

The school isn't making money, so the principal is unhappy, the teachers are unhappy, and even the staff who provide logistical support for the teachers and students are unhappy.

If no one is willing, how can we promote and implement the policy of allowing students to study outside their registered residence?

Therefore, what Zhao An needs to do now is to carve out a slice of the commercialized education pie and leave it for local education officials and school staff to increase their enthusiasm.

To put it bluntly, we need to immediately establish a high-welfare education salary system so that everyone in the education system can benefit from it. This will ensure that after Zhao An leaves the education system, the system will not only avoid the phenomenon of "the tea growing cold when the person leaves," but will also miss Zhao An dearly.

At the same time, taking advantage of the opportunity to promote the policy of allowing students to study outside their hometown, we should also establish a similar scholarship mechanism to specifically support outstanding students in their pursuit of academic success.

A two-pronged approach.

Unfortunately, Zhao An dared not openly use his own name in the name, otherwise the name Zhao Youlu would probably be more effective in the education field than the old man's.

This is a very necessary thing to do because behind it is a huge market of "people's hearts".

Although academic officials were on the periphery of the Qing Dynasty's bureaucratic system and had little say in court or local affairs, they had a natural influence on students, who in turn were the reserve force for the bureaucratic class.

This forms a logical fact.

As long as all the school officials and teachers praise Committee Member Zhao, the students will also think that Committee Member Zhao is a good official.

Once the outstanding students among them achieve success in their studies and become officials, a phenomenon will emerge.

That is, there will be a group of young and middle-aged officials in the officialdom who will silently support Committee Member Zhao. Even if these young officials do not support Committee Member Zhao transforming into Zhao Mang to usurp the old master's property, they will remain silent.

Silence is support.

The academic officials who directly benefited from the transfer were bound to be even more supportive of Committee Member Zhao.

A party member was born out of thin air.

The formal handover of next year's tuition revenue means that Principal Zhao can now make sole decisions regarding this year's revenue for Yangzhou Prefectural School.

The number of faculty and staff at Yangzhou Prefectural School has increased from 101 to 215 due to recruitment and staffing.

Zhao An had Vice Principal Ma withdraw 20,000 taels of silver as a one-time welfare payment to these 215 people, distributed according to their rank, with even the lowest-ranking cleaning lady receiving several taels.

The New Year's goods were also purchased by the prefectural school, which was not a large expense; a thousand taels would be enough.

After the work meeting, Zhao An called Vice Principal Ma and Director Tong to his office for a small meeting.

"High salary and high benefits?" After listening to what the principal said, both Vice Principal Ma and Director Tong were completely confused, because they didn't know what salary or benefits were.

Zhao An explained that salaries were the official stipends and the monthly allowances for teachers and staff.

This was reformed when Zhao An took office, with teachers' salaries increasing by half and staff salaries by 30%.

However, there is a problem with the current system. Because of the temporary enrollment policy of the prefectural school, some famous teachers from other places have been recruited again, and the salaries of these famous teachers have increased by two to three times compared to their original salaries.

This resulted in the salaries of the original teachers at Yangzhou Prefectural School being significantly lower than those of the newly recruited teachers.

"Don't worry about scarcity, but worry about inequality."

Zhao An's proposed solution is to combine teaching experience and performance evaluation, setting a basic salary based on teachers' years of service and then issuing subsidies based on their performance.

A teacher's performance is naturally based on their teaching ability; the better you teach, the more you receive in subsidies, and vice versa.

In addition, provide teachers from other places with subsidies for visiting relatives, transportation, and family members, so that their salary level is not lower than the originally promised salary.

Vice Principal Ma was doing the accounting, and the final result was that the teachers' salaries would generally reach around 180 taels.

This is equivalent to three times the previous teacher's salary.

The wages of ordinary staff will also rise to around fifty taels.

That's very high, because the county magistrate's legal salary was only a few dozen taels of silver per year.

This is just the salary; what about the benefits?

"Which teacher doesn't get sick? If they do, don't they need to see a doctor? Why do teachers get sick? Isn't it all for the sake of Yangzhou's academic pursuits and the future of Yangzhou's students?"

Zhao Anyi set up a sickness allowance: fifty taels for serious illness and five to ten taels for minor illness, which was enjoyed by both teachers and staff.

"If it's cold in winter and warm in summer, officials should receive charcoal and ice as tribute, and teachers should too. Education should never be neglected, no matter how poor we are. (This is related to the imperial examination system.)"

Zhao An counted on his fingers and then announced several more benefits, which together were worth about a hundred taels of silver.

Vice Principal Ma and Director Tong were speechless. Good heavens, if this salary and welfare system were implemented, Yangzhou Prefectural School would probably be the school with the highest income in the Qing Dynasty.

But it's nothing, since our prefectural school is rich now.

It's a fool not to spend money when you have it; anyone can be a good person.

“Draft a set of regulations as I suggested, I will affix my seal, and it will become the standard practice. Next year, all prefectural schools in the province will follow this procedure.”

After speaking, Zhao An paused, glanced at his two loyal subordinates, and revealed that next year's tuition fees must be turned over to the internal treasury.

"what?"

Director Tong was the first to react, exclaiming, "If all of it is turned over to the internal treasury, won't there be no money to pay these high salaries and benefits?"

Vice Principal Ma disagreed, saying, "The surplus should be handed over to the imperial treasury. How can we hand it all over? If we really hand it all over, there's no point in running this prefectural school anymore."

Zhao An nodded. Vice Principal Ma had hit the nail on the head. If everything had to be handed over, why would he offer such high salaries and benefits?

“You have all put in a lot of effort in the matter of granting temporary school places. Even if you have not made any great contributions, you have certainly worked hard. However, we officials are paid by the imperial court and cannot have the same high salaries and benefits as the teachers. Therefore, I think we should keep two sets of accounts: one for outsiders to see and one that can only be known to us.”

At this point, Zhao An picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said meaningfully, "We are all officials appointed by the court, and what we do is also important to the court. Therefore, do not think that accumulating wealth is for our own private benefit. In fact, it is to share the burden of the emperor and to do things for the court."

(End of this chapter)