Abolished Gyeongnam Village Education Community Ordinance Heads to Supreme Court... Gyeongnam Office of Education Says "Legal Violation"

The Gyeongnam Office of Education has requested a Supreme Court ruling on the ordinance abolishing the Gyeongsangnam-do Village Education Community Activation Support, which was finally confirmed by the provincial council.

The Office of Education announced on the 9th that it filed a petition with the Supreme Court and requested a suspension of execution to confirm the invalidity of the re-adopted ordinance abolishing the Gyeongnam Village Education Community Support ordinance by the provincial council.

According to Article 28, Paragraph 3 of the Local Education Autonomy Act, "If it is judged that the re-adopted matter violates laws or regulations, the superintendent of education may file a petition with the Supreme Court within 20 days from the date of re-adoption."

Gyeongnam Office of Education. Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

This ordinance was enacted in 2021 to create an educational ecosystem where schools, villages, education offices, and local governments in the community cooperate and collaborate. It served as the basis for budget operation for projects such as the operation of future education districts, establishment and operation of Happy Village Schools, and support for educational cooperatives.

However, controversies continued regarding the neutrality of education being compromised due to village instructors declaring support for Superintendent Park Jong-hoon during his candidacy, the involvement of a person linked to the so-called Changwon Spy Group incident as a village instructor, the implementation of ideological and value education, poor standards for hiring and managing instructors, and children's safety issues.

The ordinance abolition proposal was passed at the 1st plenary session of the 418th extraordinary meeting of the provincial council, then re-voted at the 2nd plenary session of the 419th extraordinary meeting upon Superintendent Park's request for reconsideration, but the abolition was ultimately confirmed.

Accordingly, the 6 billion KRW budget for the future education district project was entirely cut from the 2025 main budget due to the ordinance abolition.

Previously, the Office of Education proposed reform measures to resolve the controversy, including establishing provisions to maintain educational neutrality, revising and deleting politically charged terms within the ordinance, consulting with local governments on region-specific village learning centers, and operating a permanent monitoring team, but these were criticized as belated responses.

Superintendent Park personally visited education support offices across the province to gather opinions related to the ordinance abolition and attempted to persuade council members to revive the ordinance, but he ultimately failed amid criticism that the reform measures were not properly implemented.

At the 2nd plenary session of the 419th regular meeting of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council, the ordinance to repeal the ordinance on supporting the activation of the Gyeongnam Village Education Community was reconsidered and passed. Photo by Lee Seryeong

The Office of Education stated the reasons for filing with the Supreme Court, saying, "There were procedural illegalities during the re-adoption voting process, and the abolition ordinance violated related laws such as the Framework Act on Education, the Lifelong Education Act, and the Basic Act on Youth."

They also added, "It exceeded the limits of legislative formation rights and violated the principle of equality and the principle of estoppel."

The Office of Education argued, "The Provincial Council's Ordinance Revision Special Committee made urgent decisions in a short period from the legislative notice of the partial amendment of the ordinance to the resolution and re-adoption of the abolition ordinance," and "Despite the existence of stakeholders affected by the enforcement of this ordinance, the abolition will be enforced from January 1, 2025, without any transitional provisions, which violates the principle of protecting trust."

They emphasized, "The provincial council abolished the ordinance by raising issues of political bias in the village education community project, whose substance is unclear, infringing on the autonomy and professionalism of education."

Superintendent Park said at the Monday meeting held on the 25th of last month regarding the ordinance abolition, "Many programs where the education office and local community raise children together can no longer be operated," and "The Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council must now take full responsibility for everything arising from this matter."