Gwangmyeong Mayor Park Seung-won Demands Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education Correct Education Budget Ranking

Gwangmyeong Mayor Park Seung-won has strongly protested the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education's analysis of municipal education investment, which listed Gwangmyeong as having the lowest education budget in the province.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education announced on October 27 the "Analysis Results of Education Investment by 31 Municipalities and Counties in Gyeonggi Province," reporting Gwangmyeong's education budget as 4.78 billion won, representing 0.384% of the general budget.

However, Gwangmyeong City directly refuted the report on the 3rd, pointing out problems with the calculation standards, stating that some education-related budgets were omitted from the results.

According to Gwangmyeong, the actual 2026 education budget totals 21.648 billion won, representing 1.74% of the general budget of 1.2440 trillion won, showing a significant discrepancy with the provincial education office's announcement.

Mayor Park Seung-won stated, "Education budgets should not be calculated based on a single specific budget category alone, but should comprehensively reflect budgets that are actually allocated and executed for students' education and welfare. The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education must correct the problems with the calculation standards and revise the announced data."

According to the city's confirmation with the provincial education office, the education office extracted only education expense statistics (308-08) from Gwangmyeong's 2026 general budget announced on the city's website to calculate education spending. Through this process, budgets allocated for student education and welfare such as meal subsidies and education allowances were not reflected, according to the city's position.

When the omitted education-related budgets are reflected and applied to the provincial education office's analysis results, Gwangmyeong's education budget ratio is 1.74%, which ranks 8th among 31 municipalities and counties in the province. Based on the city's self-allocated education budget of 7.893 billion won, the calculated ratio is 0.64%, which corresponds to 4th place in the province.