How Public Finance Promotes Educational Equity—Based on the Performance Evaluation of “Building a Strong Basic Education” in Guangdong Province

Education expenditure is the largest expenditure of government finance, and ensuring education equity is the basic goal of public finance. Taking 91 districts and counties involved in the "Building a Strong Basic Education" special fund in Guangdong Province as samples, a random effect model was used for regression, combined with typical cases to explore the impact of public finance on education equity. The results showed that the special fund significantly improved the overall education level of the province and narrowed the educational gap within the county. The total expenditure on education funds, the proportion of municipal and county funds, actions of district and county governments and social contributions significantly promoted education equity while the proportion of fiscal education funds in GDP did not. In order to promote the balanced development of education, based on the actual situation and responsibility system, it is necessary to control strictly financial support for education funds in counties and districts, support education management innovation in district and county governments, and improve expenditure performance evaluation systems and mechanisms.