Budget for maintenance expenses of public schools hiked

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) has increased the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) allocated to public schools nationwide by 46 percent this year.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said DepEd and the Department of Budget and Management have agreed to adopt a refined formula for setting the MOOE budgets of public schools, which takes into account not only the number of students in a school but also the number of classrooms and teachers.

The new formula, Luistro said, is more responsive to the requirements for improved classroom instruction and better school management.

The move to increase the MOOE budget is in pursuit of the government’s thrust to intensify its efforts to achieve the learning targets of some 20 million students in public elementary and high schools nationwide.

The increase in MOOE is part of the program for more classroom construction and teacher hiring to improve conditions in public schools and upgrade the quality of education.

“We reiterate the guidelines to ensure that the budget really goes to schools in critical and priority areas that would help their conditions and improve quality of learning in our schools,” Luistro said.

The increase in school MOOE is more significant for elementary schools, which expanded by 68 percent, from approximately P3.97 billion in 2012 to P6.67 billion in 2013.

For high schools, the MOOE rose from P3.85 billion in 2012 to P4.75 billion this year or an increase of 23 percent.

DepEd said the average elementary MOOE per school would now be P173,450 (68 percent increase) while the average secondary MOOE per school is P635,700 (23 percent increase).

This reflects the department’s desire to address the relatively more pressing needs faced by elementary schools in the country, DepEd said.

There was also a significant increase in funding for in-service training for teachers that reached a total of P337 million, an additional P67.981 million from the previous budget.

Luistro explained that the effectiveness of the administration of DepEd is best seen in how the schools are managed on a daily basis, thus the move to give principals the funds they need to run the school and empower them to maintain the schools well.

“By increasing the MOOE, our schools could be well maintained so that it becomes the proud center of the locality,” he said.