Fiscal Decentralization of Philippine Basic Education.pdf

Fiscal Decentralization of Philippine Basic Education A Policy Note for Philippine Business for Education Key Messages 1. The Philippines has not been spending enough on education and has not been spending well what little it has. This is con...

Fiscal Decentralization of Philippine Basic Education A Policy Note for Philippine Business for Education Key Messages 1. The Philippines has not been spending enough on education and has not been spending well what little it has. This is consistent with research evidence showing how much resources1 there are and how they are used matter in improving learning outcomes. 2. Education governance is characterized by a high concentration of resources at the national level, unmaximized local resources, and low levels of autonomy at the local level. 3. A fiscal decentralization model of Philippine basic education governance that aims to ensure adequacy, equity, efficiency, and performance of education services is recommended. Meager resources for basic education that unsurprisingly explains poor learning outcomes. According to the OECD,2 the cumulative expenditure per student, over ten years of age between 6 and 15, in the Philippines was equivalent to about USD 11 000 (PPP). This is significantly below the USD 75 600(PPP)-threshold, wherein economies saw a variation of 27% in their math scores explained by increased education spending. Post PISA 2018, the government has increased the share of education, culture, and sports development in the national budget: from 15.76% in 2020 to 17.05% in 2024. Albert, Basillote, and Muñoz (2021)3 calculated that the government needs to quadruple its spending in education to reach the global reading proficiency standard. Learning poverty, defined as the inability to read and understand a simple text by age 10, is still at 90% in the Philippines (World Bank). PISA 2022 results show that while there were some improvements in the raw scores in reading (+7) and math (+2), and a one- 1 Using PISA data, education expenditure is related to student performance only up to a certain point. Countries whose cumulative expenditure per student is