Constitutional Court Rules "Mandatory Edufine for Private Kindergartens Constitutional"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the legal provision requiring private kindergartens to handle accounting tasks through the national accounting management system called 'Edufine' does not violate the Constitution.

On the 25th, the Constitutional Court unanimously dismissed a constitutional complaint filed by over 340 private kindergarten principals regarding Article 53-3 of the Financial and Accounting Rules for Private Educational Institutions.

In 2019, Mr. A and others operating private kindergartens filed a constitutional complaint, arguing that parts of the Financial and Accounting Rules for Private Educational Institutions infringed on the freedom to operate private schools. The government amended this rule in 2019 to apply to private kindergartens starting March 1 of the same year, based on Article 53-3, which states that "the budget, settlement, and accounting tasks belonging to the school fee accounts of all schools below high school level must be processed using information processing devices designated by the Minister of Education."

In response, private kindergartens raised concerns that mandating the use of Edufine infringed on their freedom to perform their profession. They also pointed out that the state's infringement on the property rights of private kindergartens was not accompanied by just compensation, citing public necessity.

However, the Constitutional Court stated, "Although private kindergartens are not established or operated by the public, they provide the public service of public education, and the state and local governments financially support this." It added, "A common accounting system managed by the state is an appropriate means to enhance the transparency of private kindergarten accounting."

Furthermore, the court noted, "Since the soundness and transparency of accounting are directly linked to the public nature of education, it is an indispensable and very important legal interest to establish a financial foundation that allows private kindergartens to uphold educational publicness without being absorbed in personal profit-seeking." It concluded that "it cannot be considered an infringement on the freedom of private kindergarten founders and operators to run private schools."

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