Seoul's education office could face a funding shortfall of 1.4 trillion won ($980 million) next year under the government's planned overhaul of local education grants, officials warned. Seoul Superintendent of Education Chung Keun-sik said the overhaul could worsen student welfare and school conditions, urging the government to reflect actual education costs and future demand.
At a parliamentary audit of the Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon education offices held by the National Assembly's Education Committee on the 14th, Chung said the government should "pay particular attention to ensuring that the ongoing overhaul of the local education grant system reflects not only changes in the school-age population but also actual education costs and future education demand in a balanced way."
According to data presented by Rep. Suh Beom-soo of the People Power Party, the decline in grants before and after the overhaul is estimated at 2.7 trillion won for Seoul, 7.4 trillion won for Gyeonggi Province and 1.6 trillion won for Incheon as of 2027. Measured against the amount needed to draw up expenditure budgets under the revised plan, the shortfall reaches 1.4 trillion won for Seoul, 600 billion won for Incheon and 300 billion won for Gyeonggi.
Chung said student welfare programs would be hit first, noting that about 80% of the Seoul education office's budget consists of fixed costs such as personnel expenses. "I think difficulties will mount first for programs aimed at improving the quality of education, such as closing education gaps and digital future education," he said. "Above all, this must not lead to deteriorating school safety and education conditions."
He also raised the possibility of issuing local bonds if the fiscal strain deepens. "We will not issue local bonds this year," Chung said, adding that "it seems we are heading toward a situation where we will have to issue local bonds in a deficit position the year after next."
The Ministry of Education, however, said simple comparisons of grant levels before and after the overhaul call for caution. Seol Se-hoon, head of the ministry's planning and coordination office, said this year's main budget stands at 71.7 trillion won and next year's at about 78 trillion won, an increase of more than 7 trillion won. "The issue appears to arise because the comparison keeps using 2026 as the baseline," he said.
On the idea of abolishing the College Scholastic Ability Test, Chung said: "It does not mean scrapping the exam right now. The point was that by around 2040, conditions could be in place to abolish it, and that we should prepare for that over the long term." On cheating on the exam using artificial intelligence smart glasses, he said the office has prepared countermeasures, including specifying the devices as banned items and producing guidance materials for proctors.