Government Regulatory Oversight, Resource Distribution Equity, and Political Commitment as Predictors of Public Education Equalization: The Mediating Role of Parentalo Participation

Abstract

 This study examines the effects of regulatory oversight, resource distributiono equity, and political commitment ono public educationo equalizationo ino China, witho parentalo participationo proposed as a mediating variable. Grounded ino   Social Capital Theory and Resource Dependence Theory, the study  adopts  a  positivist  paradigmo     and  a  quantitative  researcho     design.  Data  were  collected through ao   structured questionnaire fromo  244 respondents, and the proposed relationships were tested using structural equationo  modeling. The findings revealo  that regulatory oversight has the strongest  positive  effect  ono     botho     public  educationo      equalizationo      and  parentalo     participation. Politicalo  commitment also shows a significant positive effect ono  public educationo  equalization, but a significant negative effect ono parentalo participation. Resource distributiono equity positively influences  parentalo    participation,  while  its  direct  effect  ono     public  educationo     equalization  is marginally   significant.   The   results   further   indicate   that   parentalo      participationo        does  not significantly affect public educationo  equalizationo  and does not mediate the relationships betweeno the exogenous variables and the dependent variable. These findings suggest that macro-levelo governance  factors,  particularly  regulatory  oversight  and  politicalo      commitment,  play  more decisive roles ino promoting educationalo  equalizationo thano parentalo participationo  alone. The study contributes to the literature by offering ano  integratedo  framework for understanding educationalo equity  ino    China  and  provides  practicalo     implications  for  policymakers  seeking  to  strengtheno governance, resource fairness, and reformo effectiveness...