Gwangju City Council Approves Revised Supplementary Budget Including Increased School Meal Funding for City Education Office

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Education and Culture Committee of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council (Chairperson Shin Sujeong) announced on the 24th that in the 2nd supplementary budget proposal submitted by the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, the school meal budget was increased by 5.4 billion KRW, while the student smart device distribution budget was reduced by 30.2 billion KRW.

The Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education submitted a supplementary budget proposal amounting to 3.2303 trillion KRW, which is an increase of 624.9 billion KRW from the original budget, to the city council on August 10.

The Education and Culture Committee of the city council decided to reduce 36.1 billion KRW and increase 3 billion KRW within the supplementary budget proposal.

Among the increased projects, the school meal budget was adjusted to 5.4 billion KRW by adding an additional 2.6 billion KRW to the 2.8 billion KRW increased by the Office of Education in consultation with the city hall, due to concerns about the decline in meal quality caused by inflation.

It was judged that the originally increased meal budget, agreed upon by the Office of Education and the city, was insufficient for stable meal operation, so an additional increase was made to provide quality meals to growing students.

Additionally, the budget reduced by 54 million KRW due to the suspension of the policy research service related to the establishment of the Gwangju Special Education Center was increased again. For mid- to long-term special education support, plans for establishing the Special Education Center were to be devised and linked to organizational restructuring.

To address language development issues in young children caused by prolonged mask use due to COVID-19, the transparent mask support project for kindergartens was also increased by about 360 million KRW.

The student smart device distribution project, a major campaign pledge of the Superintendent of Education, which was planned to be distributed to middle and high school students, was completely cut by 30.2 billion KRW in this supplementary budget due to insufficient prior planning and preparation regarding educational utilization methods and prevention measures for negative effects, with a request to proceed only after thorough preparation.

The 3.5 billion KRW for the 365 Study Room creation project was cut as well, with a request to proceed step-by-step after performance analysis through pilot school operation. Furthermore, 300 million KRW for the complex art space creation support project and 2 billion KRW for the expansion of school sports facility equipment such as health and fitness classrooms were significantly cut, as these were judged not to be projects suitable for inclusion in the supplementary budget.

Chairperson Shin Sujeong stated, “In reviewing this supplementary budget proposal, we prioritized examining whether the projects were urgent or could be executed within the year, considering the purpose of the supplementary budget. It is not desirable to proceed with projects under the name of the Superintendent’s campaign pledges without concrete project plans and thorough preparation. If the cut budgets are truly necessary, the Office of Education was instructed to reflect them in the next budget through thorough prior preparation and communication.”

Meanwhile, the supplementary budget proposal of the Office of Education, after preliminary review by the Education and Culture Committee, will be finalized after review by the Budget and Accounts Special Committee on the 30th and the plenary session on the 31st.

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