A governor’s fight against populism

South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Jun-pyo, who pushed for a shutdown of Jinju Medical Center as part of efforts to reform the public medical sector, has now stepped up to fight against another populism – free school meals. When the South Gyeongsang Province Office of Education rejected an audit on the budget for free school meals, the governor declared on Monday that he would not allocate budget for free school meals next year based on the "principle of no audit, no budget."

South Gyeongsang Province provides 32.9 billion won (30.5 million U.S. dollars) for free school meals for the education office, or 25 percent of the entire budget of 131.5 billion won (121.97 million dollars). Most of lower-level municipal governments sponsoring 49.3 billion won (45.7 million dollars) or 37.5 percent also agree with the governor. Although South Gyeongsang Province Superintendent Park Jong-hoon, a former teachers’ union member, says, “We cannot take away rice bowls from students,” it does not make sense that the education office rejects an audit. It is abnormal that local governments across the country have not conducted an audit yet while providing subsidies for free school meals each year.

At a time when local governments are under financial pressure, they need to consider whether they need to continue providing free meals for students. “The costs for free school meals soared from 78.5 billion won (72.8 million dollars) to 1.06 trillion won (1.05 billion dollars) in four years, putting financial pressure on local governments,” Governor Hong said. “We will convert subsidies for free school meals to a reserve fund to provide an independent education fee support program for low-income households and the socially-marginalized.” Incheon and the Dong-district of Ulsan have also decided to cut down subsidies for free meals due to the lack of financial resources. It is a step in the right direction based on the examples of other developed countries that provides paid school meals.

Seventeen local education offices spent 2.36 trillion won (2.24 billion dollars ) for free school meals last year. They account for 20.9 percent of controllable expenses excluding uncontrollable expenses such as labor costs and school operating costs. A significant amount of money that is supposed to be used to upgrade students’ education conditions and the quality of education are wasted on free school meals. If free school meals are not offered to students from the top 30 percent of household income, the money can be spent more for students from low-income households.