Ahead of Budget Talks, Backlash Grows Against Education Grant Reform... 400-Plus Groups Launch "1 Million Signatures Campaign"

Called for a halt to the passage of budget-related bills on November 3
"Touting cuts to education funding as a success in improving spending efficiency"

As lawmakers prepare to review next year’s budget proposal, opposition from the education sector to reform of the local education finance grant system is intensifying.

The “2026 Emergency Action Against the Reform of Local Education Finance Grants,” which brings together 408 organizations, held a press conference in front of the National Assembly on the morning of November 3, calling for the withdrawal of amendments to the Local Education Finance Grant Act and a halt to the passage of budget-related bills.

At the press conference, the group criticized the government’s contradictory stance, saying, “The government claims that funding for schools will increase, while touting cuts to grants as a success in improving spending efficiency.”

On October 26, the Ministry of Planning and Budget announced at the third Fiscal Management Strategy Council meeting that it had devised measures to improve spending efficiency worth 32.5332 trillion won by reforming the grant calculation method. That amount accounts for 74% of the approximately 44.2 trillion won in total spending efficiency measures.

The “Emergency Action in Response to the 2026 Local Education Finance Grant Reform” held a press conference in front of the National Assembly on the morning of the 3rd, calling for the withdrawal of the amendment to the Education Grants Act and a halt to the passage of budget-related bills. The Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU)

The government believes that grants in 2027 will increase by 7.2 trillion won (10.1%) from this year’s initial budget, enough to cover the 2.5 trillion won increase in personnel expenses for teachers. The education sector, however, argues that when this year’s supplementary budget is taken into account, the increase will amount to just 2.43 trillion won (3.2%). It says the calculation must also account for a decline of approximately 1.87 trillion won in revenue, including central government funding for free high school education and local education taxes, as well as essential expenses such as school operating costs, meal costs and facility improvements.

The group called for maintaining the system linking grants to 20.79% of domestic taxes. It also urged the National Assembly to halt the passage of the amendments as budget-related bills and to ensure that education stakeholders take part in discussions.

The Korea Council of Superintendents of Education, an association of superintendents from 16 metropolitan and provincial offices of education nationwide, is also actively responding to the government’s grant reform plan. At a meeting on October 30, its chair, Jeong Geunsik, who is superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, “I hope a reasonable alternative to the current grant reform plan will be developed.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.