Seoul’s education department has decided to earmark a budget that will run the state-led free child care program known as Nuri for only the first three months of 2015, urging the central government to fork out extra funds to cover the shortfalls surpassing 200 billion won.

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education set aside 342.9 billion won ($316.2 million) for the 2015 Nuri program, which aims to provide free education to preschoolers aged 3-5, down sharply from 547.3 billion won for this year. The cut is due to the agency’s decision to set the budget for the free day care centers under the Nuri program at 91.4 billion won ― only three months’ worth of financial support.

“I firmly believe that the budget for free child care should be allocated,” Cho said in a press conference on Monday. “But it would be wrong to sacrifice free school lunches for the sake of free child care. A welfare policy that has been implemented cannot be retracted.”

The central government-initiated free child care program has been a point of contention in education circles along with the free school lunch program. Cho Hi-yeon of Seoul and other mostly progressive superintendents have refused to pay in full for the child care program, citing budget restraints, while conservatives blamed the progressive-initiated free school lunches for the financial difficulties.

Cho blasted the attempts from the political circles to pit one against the other, saying it was a ruse to wrongly blame the superintendents for the child care budget shortfall. The central government, the ruling party and the presidential office have all been urging education officials to “prioritize” the implementation of the free child care program over free lunches.

“Both the free child care and free lunch programs are an important part of the Korean welfare system, and has been determined so by the people,” Cho said.

The free child care program was initiated by former President Lee Myung-bak’s administration. Providing and expanding government support for the program was a major part of President Park Geun-hye’s welfare pledges during her campaign in 2012.

The Education Ministry, however, did not allocate a budget for the free child care policy for 2015, pointing to an ordinance that says it should be funded by the regional government bodies.

In a subsequent standoff, the National Association of Education Superintendents initially refused to set aside a budget for the child care part of the Nuri program. Last week, the group backed off and said it would partially fund the child care programs.

Education agencies said that without the central government’s support, the program’s shortfalls would exceed 200 billion won a year.

Cho said that unless the government provides a subsidy, he would have no choice but to issue additional municipal bonds. The Seoul education office is already planning to issue about 637 billion won in bonds to retain costs for facility maintenance and severance fees of retiring teachers.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)