Cho Hee-yeon "Withdraw the Designation of the Special Account Supplementary Bill for Higher Education"

Expressing Strong Regret Through Statement
If Supplementary Bill Review Is Not Completed,
Automatic Referral to Plenary Session on December 1

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, expressed regret on the 30th as the special account bill for supporting higher and lifelong education, which reallocates part of the local education finance grant previously used for elementary and secondary education to universities, was included in the budget subsidiary bill.

Superintendent Cho released a statement on the designation of the special account budget subsidiary bill for higher and lifelong education support, stating, "As the chairman of the Council of Superintendents of Provincial Offices of Education, I strongly express regret from the standpoint that stable securing of local education finance is necessary."

He urged, "Even now, the ruling and opposition parties, as well as the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, should come together to create a truly ‘budget and tax law for the people’ for the future-oriented development of elementary, middle, and high school education," and added, "I hope the current budget subsidiary bill will be withdrawn."

The government is promoting a plan to use the education tax transfer portion of the local education finance grant for higher education accounts to resolve the financial difficulties of higher education. The local education finance grant is funded by 20.79% of domestic taxes and part of the education tax, with the portion of the education tax allocated to the Special Account for Early Childhood Education Support for preschool education and childcare excluded; the remainder is the grant resource. The education tax resource amounts to 5 trillion KRW annually, of which 3 trillion KRW per year will be incorporated into the special account and invested in university education.

As superintendents of provincial offices of education and teacher organizations opposed this, the National Assembly formed a bipartisan consultative body including the chairperson of the Education Committee, education committee secretaries from both ruling and opposition parties, and vice ministers from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Strategy and Finance to conduct negotiations.

According to the National Assembly Act, the budget subsidiary bill must complete the standing committee resolution by today. If the review is not completed within the deadline, the bill will be automatically submitted to the plenary session on December 1.

Superintendent Cho said, "The Council of Superintendents of Provincial Offices of Education has already revealed the future education finance demand for the next three years and emphasized the importance of stable securing of local education finance," adding, "The superintendents will continue to make every effort for this."