The article is devoted to the analysis of the ideas about reforming the Russian education system put forward by a prominent member of socio-pedagogical movement, V. I. Charnolusky in his works, published in 1906–1912. The author was a supporter of democratic reforms aimed at reforming the public education system on a fundamentally new for Russia foundations. The basic idea of V. I. Charnolusky was the changing role of the state in education. The emphasis was on the problems of government decentralization, greater attention was paid to the expansion of private initiative.
