Ulsan education chief urges stable fiscal support at national audit

As the government moves to overhaul the local education finance grant system — which automatically distributes funds to 17 city and provincial education offices nationwide — Ulsan Superintendent of Education Jo Yong-sik called Tuesday on the National Assembly to ensure that Ulsan's education funding needs are fully reflected in any reform. Jo made the appeal during a work report at the National Assembly Education Committee's national audit, held at the Busan Metropolitan City Office of Education.

"If local education finance grants are reduced, it will become difficult to carry out projects in school safety and environmental improvements, foundational academic support and student mental health, special education, essential staffing at schools, and AI and digital education," Jo said during the work report.

Jo introduced Ulsan's educational vision — "Ulsan Education Where Today Is Happy" — and said the office is pursuing three initiatives to help students feel respected, continue learning, and develop the capacity to shape their own futures: supporting the on-the-ground implementation of the revised 2022 national curriculum, operating a learning-and-growth intensive grade program, and strengthening a three-tier safety net for foundational academic skills.

"Stable education finances must underpin the realization of these education policies," Jo added. "I ask for your attention so that our efforts toward Ulsan education where today is happy can translate into real change at schools."

Jo had already visited the National Assembly on Sept. 7 to urge opposition to the proposed revision of the Local Education Finance Grant Act, and met Monday with National Assembly Speaker Jo Jeong-sik to call for a review of the government's proposed overhaul of the grant system.

The government is seeking to scrap the existing formula, under which 20.79 percent of domestic tax revenue is automatically distributed to 17 city and provincial education offices as local education finance grants, and replace it with a system that calculates grant levels based on the previous year's grants adjusted for the three-year average nominal growth rate and the three-year average rate of change in the school-age population.