Ulsan education chief urges National Assembly to halt grants reform

Ulsan Metropolitan City Superintendent of Education Jo Yong-sik visited the National Assembly on Monday to urge lawmakers to block a proposed overhaul of the Local Education Finance Grants Act, amid the government's push to restructure the grants system.

Jo met in succession with four members of the Assembly's Education Committee — Rep. Park Jeong-hun of the People Power Party (North Chungcheong Province), Rep. Kim Moon-su of the Democratic Party of Korea (South Jeolla Province), Rep. Jeong Seong-guk of the People Power Party (Busanjin-gu) and Rep. Baek Seung-a of the Democratic Party of Korea (proportional representation) — urging them to use their legislative authority to stop the reform and protect local education autonomy.

Jo also said the amendment was announced Aug. 21 and entered the legislative notice process just five days later. He said the significant change to grant distribution principles — maintained for more than half a century — had proceeded without prior consultation or input from the metropolitan and provincial education superintendents who actually manage education finances.

Jo had also participated as a discussant at a public forum on stabilizing local education finances, hosted by the National Council of Superintendents of Education at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education auditorium on July 29, where he raised concerns about the government's education policy direction.

After concluding his meetings with lawmakers, Jo visited a tent protest encampment in front of the National Assembly building, where 374 organizations — including teachers' groups and civic groups — have been staging a sit-in to oppose the grants reform.

"If this reform goes through as proposed, it will create a fiscal gap that will inevitably lead to cuts in educational activities for our children," Jo said. "The current statutory grants rate must be maintained to secure stable education financing for future generations."

The reform bill the government submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday would scrap the existing automatic-linkage system, under which 20.79 percent of domestic tax revenue is distributed to the 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education as local education finance grants. In its place, grants would be calculated by applying the average nominal growth rate over the preceding three years and the three-year average rate of change in the school-age population to the previous year's grants figure.

The Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education projected that if the system is restructured, next year's general grants would fall to 1.92 trillion won ($1.99 billion) from an originally estimated 2.68 trillion won — a reduction of 756.1 billion won, or 28.3 percent. The office warned that if the reform takes effect, cuts to education budgets directly benefiting students — including school curriculum operations, improvements to the learning environment and individualized student support — would be unavoidable starting next year.