North Gyeongsang Province Superintendent of Education Im Jong-sik. [Provided by the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education]
North Gyeongsang Province Superintendent of Education Im Jong-sik. [Provided by the North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education]

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education has voiced strong opposition to the government's push to overhaul the local education grant system, urging retention of the current formula that ties grants to 20.79 percent of national tax revenue.

The education office said Saturday it views the proposed reform as far more than a technical adjustment to how grants are calculated — calling it a fundamental change to the stable fiscal framework the state has long maintained for early childhood through high school education. Scrapping the national tax-linked formula in favor of one based on the nominal growth rate and shifts in the school-age population would undermine the stability of local education finances, the office said.

The office also said that if the reduction in grants were deposited into a "talent and education account" under a future-response fund, the Ministry of Planning and Budget — not the Ministry of Education — would control the fund, making it difficult to direct the money toward elementary and secondary education.

North Gyeongsang Province has a wide distribution of rural and remote communities, islands and small schools, the office said, meaning that even as student numbers decline, the fiscal demands of running schools, providing long-distance commuting support and upgrading aging facilities do not fall proportionally. Demand for foundational learning, special education, childcare and welfare services, student mental health, and AI and digital education is also growing, it added.

While the office said it supports expanding national investment in early childhood, high school and lifelong education, it said funding those areas by cutting resources for existing elementary and secondary education is unacceptable. It called for those additional funds to be secured through separate, stable national revenue sources.

The office called on the government and the National Assembly to maintain the statutory 20.79 percent national tax-linked formula, to deposit any surplus tax revenue into a Ministry of Education-managed fund for use when education finances deteriorate, to secure separate funding for early childhood, high school and lifelong education, and to establish a formal consultative body that includes education sector representatives.

"A decline in student numbers does not mean the state's responsibility for education — or what each child needs — should also shrink," North Gyeongsang Superintendent of Education Im Jong-sik said. "The local education grant is the legal safety net that protects public education and local education autonomy."

Meanwhile, the Korean Council of Superintendents of Education held an emergency meeting Wednesday to call for the same — retaining the current national tax-linked formula and establishing a formal consultative body among the government, the National Assembly and the education sector.

The North Gyeongsang Provincial Office of Education said it plans to keep conveying the views of schools and educators to the government and the National Assembly in solidarity with education offices across the country.


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