No vision, just vouchers? School chief candidates woo voters with cash promises

Incumbent Superintendent Jung Geun-sik waves to supporters as he launches his campaign for the June 3 elections in Seoul, May 21. Newsis

The education superintendent elections were once a battleground for dueling visions of philosophy and big ideas. A decade ago, conservative and liberal candidates clashed over whether to prioritize increasing student rights or preserving teachers’ authority and how far to expand parental choice alongside public schooling.

That debate has all but disappeared. Ahead of the June 3 elections, the most visible campaign promises have little to do with teaching and learning. Leading candidates across the nation, regardless of their political views, are competing on how much cash or financial support they can channel directly to students and parents.

In Seoul, incumbent Superintendent Jung Geun-sik pledged to move beyond the existing tuition-free system by making education for children aged three to five effectively free, while also eliminating many out-of-pocket costs for older students. Currently, parents pay no public school tuition but still cover expenses such as transport and field trips. Under his plan, the education office would fully fund education, meal, after-school and care costs for preschoolers, pay all commuting costs for elementary, middle and high school students and gradually make school trips free for all elementary and middle school students.

His conservative rival, Yoon Ho-sang, promised similar plans. He has pledged to significantly cut education costs for parents by designating “high‑quality” hagwons (cram schools) in Seoul and covering 40 percent of their tuition through public and private funding, with the remaining 60 percent to be shared among local governments, the education office and participating companies.

In Gyeonggi Province, the country’s most populous region, incumbent Superintendent Yim Tae-hee has focused on costs that pile up at the end of high school. He pledged to give each high school senior student 300,000 won ($200) after the college entrance exam to cover the cost of English test preparation courses or driver’s license training, among others.

Meanwhile, his liberal challenger, Ahn Min-seok, took the idea further, promising to give every first-year middle school student a 1 million won “seed fund” that would be managed for six years and then returned with any investment gains when they graduate from high school.

A man walks past campaign posters for candidates in the June 3 education superintendent elections displayed on a street in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, May 21. Newsis

Outside the capital region, similar patterns appear. In North Gyeongsang Province, liberal candidate Lee Yong-gi has promised to pay 1 million won to every high school senior student, while in North Chungcheong Province, candidate Kim Sung-keun has pledged 300,000 won for every new elementary, middle and high school enrollee.

In North Jeolla Province, candidate Lee Nam-ho has proposed to build a “self-reliance fund” for students by matching their long-term savings from elementary through high school with education office money, so that by graduation, they can accumulate up to 50 million won for university tuition and other expenses. In Gangwon, candidate Choi Gwang-ik has promised 200,000 won a month in private education support for students.

This cash-focused campaign trend has prompted criticism. Experts say it has become hard to distinguish liberal from conservative candidates by reading their manifestos alone. Instead of arguing over student rights, curriculum content or school autonomy, many candidates are foregrounding benefits that can be easily monetized and promoted, they noted.

“Cash and welfare-type pledges are not bad in themselves, but they should not be the main point. In this election, they have become the main thing,” an official at Education Spring, a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization, told The Korea Times on Tuesday.

“The superintendent race is no longer a policy battle but an image battle — no real policies, just political colors and alliances, with candidates betting that the right optics will be enough. I think this is the reason.”

One reason candidates can so easily roll out cash-style pledges is that local education offices are sitting on ample funds from the national education grant, which automatically allocates 20.79 percent of national internal tax revenues for educational purposes. Over the past decade, the total number of elementary, middle and high school students has fallen by more than 1 million, but the grant has continued to grow, reaching 70.3 trillion won last year, pressuring education officials to find ways to spend the money.