Oh Se-hoon: "Limitations of Direct Election for Education Superintendent... Need to Discuss Running Mate System with Provincial Governors"

Oh Se-hoon "Cannot Neglect the Method of Electing Education Superintendent"
Running Mate System ... "Can Enhance Cooperation and Administrative Efficiency"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon stated, "We need to discuss the possibility of introducing a running mate system when electing the education superintendent." This approach involves the provincial governor and the education superintendent running together, following the resignation of Seoul Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon due to a final guilty verdict from the Supreme Court.

In a post on Facebook on the 30th, Mayor Oh said, "We can no longer neglect the problems with the method of electing education superintendents."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Mayor Oh pointed out, "The direct election system, introduced to enhance educational autonomy and expand resident participation, is actually working in the opposite way in reality," adding, "The consistency and accountability of education policy are being shaken, and the essence of education is frequently caught up in political interests." He continued, "The fact that all education superintendents elected in Seoul have received guilty verdicts reveals structural problems with the current direct election system. Looking at examples from other countries, there are various approaches to electing education superintendents. If the framework of direct elections is maintained, introducing a 'running mate system' could strengthen cooperation between provincial governors and education superintendents and improve administrative efficiency."

The day before, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of Superintendent Cho, who was indicted on charges of abuse of power and violation of the National Public Officials Act, thereby upholding the lower court’s ruling of 1 year and 6 months imprisonment with a 2-year probation. Superintendent Cho was indicted for abusing personnel authority from October to December 2018 by attempting to appoint five dismissed teachers from the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) and compelling supervisors to conduct a special recruitment process disguised as a public competitive exam, which they were not obligated to do.

Mayor Oh also introduced overseas cases. He said, "In the United States, depending on the state, governors or education boards may directly appoint education superintendents, or they may be elected through direct elections. In the United Kingdom, education boards appoint education superintendents, and in Japan, the education superintendent is appointed by the local government head from among education board members with the consent of the council."

He also added his stance on the autonomous police system. Mayor Oh stated, "It cannot be overlooked that this system only increases the budget burden on local governments while lacking personnel authority and command rights, rendering it ineffective. Operating the autonomous police system without real authority for local governments undermines the essence of local autonomy," and added, "I will discuss this issue with the government as well as the legislature."