Reform of local education subsidy system emerges as key regional issue

A government push to restructure the local education subsidy system — which automatically allocates 20.79 percent of domestic tax revenue to the 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide — has emerged as a major regional issue.

At the heart of the debate is a proposal to lower the share of tax revenue earmarked for the subsidy and redirect the freed-up funds toward higher education, early childhood education and lifelong learning. Proponents argue that the system, introduced in 1972 when the school-age population exceeded 10 million, needs adjustment now that the figure has fallen to about 4 million.

Ulsan Superintendent of Education Jo Yong-sik attended an emergency meeting on the subsidy reform Friday, organized by the National Association of Superintendents of Education and held at a conference room at Osong Station in North Chungcheong Province, joining fellow superintendents in a coordinated response to the government's move to adjust the education subsidy.

Earlier, Jo issued a statement Thursday expressing serious concerns about the proposed reduction. "Even as student numbers fall, the number of classes and schools has increased, and the number of teachers has also grown to meet diverse educational needs — meaning fixed costs such as personnel expenses are actually rising every year," he said.

He added that education spending should be viewed not as a cost to be optimized for efficiency, but as a long-term investment in the nation's future. "Education budgets for public schooling — covering support for basic academic skills, expansion of special education infrastructure, care and welfare services, integrated student support and multicultural education — must be sustained," he said.

According to Ulsan's mid-term student placement plan for the 2026–2030 school years, the number of elementary school students in the city is projected to fall from 58,039 in the 2025 school year to 38,220 in 2030, and middle school students from 33,543 to 29,150. High school enrollment, however, is expected to rise slightly, from 31,406 to 31,959.

In response, the Ulsan Metropolitan City Office of Education has drawn up a placement plan that reduces class size only for elementary grades 2 through 6 — from 26 students per class in 2026 to 24 in 2030 — while keeping middle school classes at 27 students and high school classes at 24, leaving overall class composition largely unchanged.

Against this backdrop, Ulsan's local education subsidy last year — based on the general grant — stood at 1.7 trillion won, or 2.44 percent of the national total of 69.7 trillion won ($46.3 billion), making it the third smallest allocation among the 17 offices of education nationwide, behind only Sejong at 1.3 percent and Jeju at 1.6 percent.

"Given the nature of education budgets, where fixed costs such as personnel expenses and school transfers account for roughly 70 to 80 percent of spending, education finances do not shrink just because student numbers do," an official at the Ulsan Metropolitan City Office of Education said. "If the subsidy — which makes up 73 percent of the office's total budget — is cut, it will inevitably undermine the public education system that the state is responsible for providing."