Historically it developed that school reforms became the universal characteristic of educational policy of the Russian and Soviet state in the 20th century. With an approach of the new millennium the problem of modernization of an education system is still a challenge not only for modern Russia, but also for all countries of the world. However, the historical basis of this process has been studied very little. The article discusses the government reform plans of the school system in Russia in a context of formation of the state educational policy of the early 20th century. A research objective was the identification of the main directions, priorities and tasks in work of the Ministry of National Education during the reign of Nicholas II, as well as determining the extent of public participation and participation of the local governments (zemstvo) in improvement of the Russian education system. The special attention is paid to the comparison of the solutions of the main problem of Russia of the beginning of the last century offered by the Nicholas’s ministers: the introduction of general primary education. The projects of N. P. Bogolepov, P.S. Vannovsky, I.I. Tolstoy, V.I.Farmakovsky, and P.N.Ignatyev were aimed at creating of the difficult differentiated system consisting of different types of schools which would enable people of all levels of life to get an education corresponding to their abilities and needs.
