A government plan to reform the country's local education grant system is facing delays as the budget and education ministries remain divided over the details of a funding formula that has been largely unchanged for more than five decades, despite agreeing on the broad framework for reform. The issue gained momentum as the Ministry of Planning and Budget pushed aggressively for reform amid expectations of a substantial increase in tax revenue on the back of the semiconductor boom. Education grants have continued to rise automatically with tax revenue even as the school-age population declines, fueling concerns that the system could lead to excessive or inefficient spending on education. The two ministries are also at odds over how to use the newly created "future response fund." The fund, which the budget ministry is expected to unveil as early as this week, will be financed with excess tax revenue generated amid the semiconductor export boom. The two ministries have reached broad agreement on scrapping the current system, which automatically allocates 20.79 percent of annual domestic t