Basic Report

In terms of educational autonomy, local education programs have been a controversial issue in South Korea for many years. There has been a continuous challenge that whether the distribution structure of the local education grant, which was designed 50 years ago, is apt for the recent and reduced education demand among education experts in the situation that the budgets for education are going up every year. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education is taking a stand against the above argument due to the increase in financial demand for the reformation of the education system and future education systems, such as Green Smart School. An argument has been made that the local education system needs partnership and cooperation between local education authorities and local self-government, as complementary relations, rather than integration or separation between them. There was a partnership/cooperation case, such as an innovative education district project but evaluations of the project show the lack of practical cooperation.
   From the critical mind of the issue, this study is conducted in terms of two respects. First, this study discovers policy programs, that can be performed through partnership and cooperation between a local government and education office, and seeks operating ways for the programs. To discover the connected cooperation programs, the authors analyzed all of the programs performed by a local government and education office as a representative example and sorted the programs based on similarity or duplication.
   The results show that 13 programs, such as training programs for talented, after-school programs, programs for multiculturalism families, educational environment improvement programs, and career ladder programs, are selected as the connected cooperation programs. Also, this study suggests short- and long-term strategies for public service provision through partnership and cooperation between local governments and education offices. The short-term strategy includes establishing a permanent council of local educational administration and forming special commissions on local councils for strengthening the role of local councils. The long-term strategy is to establish the “Joint Committee on Regional Education” (tentatively named). The joint commission consists of a governance system including a separate executive office with administrative authority for the operation of the commission. The commission has a similar formation to the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development and Social Security Committee at the national level. To realize the alternatives, this study suggests the revision of Article 135 of the Local Government Act as a parent law of the Local Educational autonomy Law.