"Why Is School Meal Funding in the Agricultural Budget?"... Baek Su-myeong, Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly Member, Urges Expansion of Agricultural Budget and Adjustment of Free Meal Cost Sharing

6.6% of the 823.4 Billion KRW Agriculture Budget Allocated to Education

School Meal Budget Ratio Needs Adjustment to 50%

People Power Party member Baek Su-myeong, a Gyeongnam Provincial Assemblyman, is advocating for an increase in the agricultural budget at the provincial assembly plenary session.
[Image source=Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Baek Su-myeong, a member of the Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly from the People Power Party, advocated for an increase in the agricultural budget on the 13th at the provincial assembly plenary session.

Assemblyman Baek requested Governor Park Wan-su and Superintendent of Education Park Jong-hoon to adjust the reasonable cost-sharing ratio for free school meals between Gyeongnam Province and the Provincial Office of Education and to increase the decreasing agricultural budget.

According to Assemblyman Baek, the agricultural budget, which had remained at 7-8% of the total Gyeongnam Province budget, has stayed at around 6% for the past three years since 2020.

Based on this year's second supplementary budget, out of Gyeongnam Province's agricultural budget of 823.4 billion KRW, 54.3 billion KRW, accounting for 6.6%, was revealed to be education-related expenses unrelated to agriculture, such as support for school meal costs.

Assemblyman Baek proposed to Governor Park a restructuring and increase of the agricultural budget and insisted to Superintendent Park that "the ratio of the school meal budget supported by Gyeongnam Province and municipalities to the Office of Education, currently 65%, should be adjusted to 50%."

He explained, "Currently, Gyeongnam Province's debt is about 1.0161 trillion KRW, but the Gyeongnam Office of Education has no debt and has secured a financial stabilization fund of 1.063 trillion KRW and an education facility environment improvement fund of 427.1 billion KRW, indicating financial leeway."

Assemblyman Baek said, "I absolutely support Gyeongnam Province providing a free meal budget for our children," adding, "Since the Office of Education currently has financial leeway, it should bear more of the burden, and when times are difficult, Gyeongnam Province should bear more of the burden."

He also questioned, "Both the budgets of Gyeongnam Province and the Gyeongnam Office of Education are precious money from our residents. Is it right to leave the money we have and borrow from banks?"

Assemblyman Baek stated, "Currently, rural areas are in a state of despair due to high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates, along with increased labor and production costs," and added, "Gyeongnam Province's farm income ranks last nationwide, but the agricultural budget is gradually decreasing, so I hope Gyeongnam Province will take special interest in supporting farmers."

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