Gyeongbuk Office of Education Prepares 5.4541 Trillion Won Budget for Next Year... 7.9% Reduction from This Year

Confirmed on December 11 at Gyeongbuk Provincial Council

On the 14th, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education formulated the 2024 main budget of 5.4541 trillion KRW and submitted it to the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council.

The 2024 main budget of the Gyeongbuk Office of Education is 468.8 billion KRW (7.9%) less than the previous year's 5.9229 trillion KRW, due to a decrease of 571.4 billion KRW in the general grants from the central government caused by the worsening government tax revenue conditions.

Gyeongbuk Office of Education.

Despite the difficult conditions, the Gyeongbuk Office of Education plans to implement next year's education policies without disruption by injecting 132.3 billion KRW from its self-accumulated Integrated Financial Stabilization Fund and through strong expenditure restructuring and strategic resource allocation.

In particular, the budget for educational welfare such as basic school operating expenses, free meal costs, school trips and training activity expenses, graduation album costs for low-income students, educational benefits, after-school programs, and care classrooms has been maintained at the previous year's level.

The direction of this main budget formulation focuses on student-centered education that supports growth, strengthening customized welfare support that adds warmth, digital transformation education leading the future, and building a foundation for future education that nurtures dreams.

Major projects for next year include 6.1 billion KRW for responsible guidance of students with basic learning difficulties such as DoDream Schools and Basic Academic Improvement Schools to operate student-centered curricula supporting growth; 2.8 billion KRW for class curriculum operation including play-based semester classes and student-generated curricula; 13.9 billion KRW for establishing a high school credit system foundation such as online schools and joint curriculum operation; 5.1 billion KRW for warm and happy education; and 1.9 billion KRW for operating leading curriculum schools such as Gyeongbuk Future Schools and Gyeongbuk Hope Schools.

Additionally, to strengthen customized welfare support that adds warmth, 156.7 billion KRW is allocated for free meal food costs, 14.8 billion KRW for meal operation costs, 9.3 billion KRW for meal support on Saturdays and public holidays during semesters, 39.6 billion KRW for after-school program operation, 18.2 billion KRW for operating elementary care classrooms including the establishment of hub-type care centers, 195.5 billion KRW for early childhood education support such as Nuri Curriculum support and the establishment of a unified kindergarten and daycare system, 40.4 billion KRW for support for low-income children including educational benefits, school trips and training activity expenses, graduation album costs, informatization support, and eye health glasses support, 23.7 billion KRW for special education welfare and operation including treatment and transportation support for special education students, and 3.4 billion KRW for multicultural education support such as multicultural policy schools and language education.

To promote digital transformation education leading the future, 8.7 billion KRW is allocated for smart education support including digital textbook activation and digital-based remote education innovation support; 4.3 billion KRW for software education activation including AI information education-centered schools, digital competency education practice schools, software education enrichment classrooms, and software education teaching aids purchase; and 24.2 billion KRW for school informatization equipment, student smart device distribution, and computer lab environment improvement, totaling 37.2 billion KRW.

Furthermore, to build a future education foundation that nurtures children’s dreams, 260 million KRW is allocated for school complex facilities, 151 billion KRW for Green Smart Schools, 12.1 billion KRW for subject classroom systems, 7.9 billion KRW for science education support and laboratory modernization, 2.7 billion KRW for mathematics education activation, 1.2 billion KRW for convergence talent education, 1.8 billion KRW for global field learning, 2.1 billion KRW for international education and cultural exchange cooperation, 140 billion KRW for new school construction, and 46.5 billion KRW for institution establishment, totaling 365.4 billion KRW.

The Gyeongbuk Office of Education emphasized that all projects were thoroughly reexamined from the ground up, with non-urgent projects drastically reduced, a 15% cut in departmental business promotion expenses, minimization of overseas training, and strong expenditure restructuring through external advisory group operation to save the budget.

Lim Jong-sik, Superintendent of Gyeongbuk Office of Education, said, “Despite the difficult financial conditions caused by the reduction of local education finance grants, we have invested generously in supporting school sites and children’s educational activities,” adding, “We will ensure that the creation of future education conditions for Gyeongbuk education to leap as a global standard in education proceeds without disruption.”

The submitted Gyeongbuk Office of Education budget will be finalized on December 11 after review by the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council’s Education Committee and the Budget and Accounts Committee.

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