Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, center, Komeito head Tetsuo Saito, right, and Nippon Ishin leader Hirofumi Yoshimura with the three-party agreement on revisions to the draft initial budget for fiscal 2025 on Feb. 25 (Takeshi Iwashita)

To ensure passage of the budget bill, the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito agreed with Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) on steps to make high school education free from fiscal 2025.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Komeito head Tetsuo Saito and Nippon Ishin leader Hirofumi Yoshimura signed the agreement on Feb. 25 to amend the government’s draft initial budget for fiscal 2025 to increase financial assistance to high school students and promote other programs.

It is the first time in 29 years that a draft initial budget will be revised through talks between the ruling and opposition parties at the Diet, and the fifth time under the current Constitution.

The ruling coalition, which lost its Lower House majority in an election in October, sought cooperation from opposition parties, such as Nippon Ishin, an advocate of free high school education, to guarantee passage of the budget proposal before the new fiscal year begins in April.

“We will work responsibly and in good faith toward realizing the agreement,” said Ishiba, who is the LDP president.

Yoshimura, who is governor of Osaka, said, “Nippon Ishin is an opposition party, but it is of utmost importance to realize an election promise.”

The three parties agreed to lift an income restriction on government financial assistance to private and public high school students from fiscal 2025.

Currently, households earning less than 9.1 million yen ($60,000) a year are eligible for a maximum of 118,800 yen in annual assistance per student.

The agreement also calls for removing an income threshold for additional assistance to private high school students from fiscal 2026 and raising the maximum amount from the current 396,000 yen to 457,000 yen.

Nippon Ishin had also called for lowering social security premiums, but the three parties only agreed to establish a council to continue consultations.

While an agreement was reached to make lunches free at elementary schools from fiscal 2026, no timetable was decided upon for free lunches offered at junior high schools.

The ruling coalition parties plan to continue policy talks with the Democratic Party for the People, another opposition party, to stabilize government administration.

But discussions over plans to raise the income tax threshold and other programs have run into difficulties.

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