ABSTRACT
The purpose of this article is to analyze the innovation of education policy based on religion that has been established by municipal government of Padang City, Indonesia, as the leading education policy. Establishing education policy started from the stage of discovery and disclosure of innovative ideas, the stage of idea selection, the implementation stage of the selected innovative ideas, and the stage of innovative diffusion. The research method used was qualitative design by analyzing the formulation and implementation of innovative education policy which became the flagship of Padang City government. Data collection techniques were done through conducting in-depth interview, forum group discussion (FGD), and analyzing document. This article used triangulation and data collection techniques. The innovation of education policy became one of the indicators of the success of local government’s performance in conducting educational affairs in the era of decentralization as well as showing the quality of management capacity of government innovation. One interesting thing was the re-inclusion of the incumbent in the 2018 Regional Election of the Head of Padang City also greatly determined the sustainability of the benefits of innovation programs.
