The controversy over free school lunches is escalating with heads of conservative municipal offices declaring that they will stop providing funding for the program, citing a budget deficit next year.
At the center of the controversy is Governor Hong Joon-pyo of the South Gyeongsang Provincial Government, who made a surprise announcement on Monday. The former chairman of the Grand National Party, the predecessor of the ruling Saenuri Party, said he would not financially support the regional education office that is in charge of funding the free lunch programs for students in elementary, middle and high schools.
“It is right for the provincial education office to handle the expenditure on free school lunches. (The local government) will not support the program anymore,” he said.
Hong’s announcement came in retaliation to the education office in South Gyeongsang Province rejecting the governor’s idea to check whether the local government’s financial support on the lunch program is well spent. The local government supports a fourth of the entire budget for the program. The provincial education office, however, refused to take Hong’s proposal to conduct the budgetary inspection, calling it “interference” and “an excuse to abolish the free lunch program.”
Hong’s remarks instantly provoked criticism from liberal educational superintendents, who are in charge of three-fourths of the nation’s metropolitan cities and provinces. The conflict is likely to intensify as other heads of local governments including the cities of Ulsan and Incheon, are considering similar actions.
Governor Nam Kyung-pil of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government on Wednesday also rejected an offer by the local education office to share 30 percent of the lunch program budget next year.
The reason behind the intensifying confrontation between local governments and education offices is because they both suffer from budget shortage to cover not only the free lunch but also the free child care program.
For local governments, mostly led by members of the ruling party, such as Hong and Nam, there is no political gain in keeping free lunch over the child care program, according to observers. The lunch program was pushed by liberal education chiefs in 2010, and also by the Democratic Party, predecessor of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy. The child care program, however, is a major part of welfare pledges made by President Park Geun-hye in 2012.
Local education offices have been resisting the central government’s demand to put priority on free child care.
Education Minister Hwang Woo-yea said previously that the education offices should suspend the lunch program to cover expenses for the child care program.
Local education offices had refuted the demand saying it is the central government’s responsibility to cover the expenses because it is a campaign pledge made by the president, not theirs. Last month, the National Association of Education Superintendents said it would not allocate any of the budget toward free child care.
But the superintendents announced late Thursday that they will at least partially fund the free childcare program, although the education offices that cannot spare any expense for the policy would be exempt from it. The decision was made at an emergency meeting of the NAES.
The NAES said that its decision was to make sure the public is not inconvenienced by the lack of childcare, but maintained that the central government should have been the one covering the expense of the program.
The recent move is expected to hurt the free lunch program even more, as limited budget will be now split between two costly welfare programs.
The issue of free lunch is at the center of an ideological conflict between the liberal education chiefs and the conservative governments.
In 2011, then-Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was regarded as a potential presidential hopeful for the ruling party, stepped down from the post after a heated dispute on the issue. He left office after attempting to block the expansion of the lunch program through a referendum.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
