Towards Greater Decentralization of Philippine Basic Education Governance PDF

Towards Greater Decentralization of Philippine Basic Education Governance A Policy Note1 for Philippine Business for Education Key Messages There is near consensus on the view that Philippine basic education governance is highly centralized and as such...

Towards Greater Decentralization of Philippine Basic Education Governance A Policy Note1 for Philippine Business for Education Key Messages There is near consensus on the view that Philippine basic education governance is highly centralized and as such should be rethought to ensure efficient and effective delivery of education services. Its size, policy mix, and poor performance in terms of access, equity, and learning are cited as the main reasons for various governance gaps. It is proposed that basic education governance be devolved. This means more political and fiscal authority and autonomy in education delivery are given to subnational levels. Evidence where decentralization of education governance has led to improved education access, equity, and quality exist. However, the type of decentralized system of governance needs to be tailor fit to the country’s political and socio-economic landscape. International best practices could inform the organizational, fiscal, and political design of the Philippines’ education governance system, but by no means should be copied wholesale. To make devolution happen, a devolution plan that is guided by the governance objectives of adequacy,2 equity,3 efficiency,4 and participation5 must be developed and implemented. Delivery units should be given the right level of autonomy, be assessed for their performance, and be held accountable. The devolution plan should include an organizational and fiscal design that are adapted to the delivery unit. The devolution plan needs an operationalization plan that would account for the highly political nature of the reform process. While existing laws already allow for devolution to some extent, legislative reform and presidential backing are required to make this devolution plan a reality. Current State of Philippine Education Governance The structure of Philippine basic education is big and has many moving parts. o There are a total of 47,188 schools in the Public School system (37,628 elementary schools, 1,511 junior high schools, and 216 senior high schools ). In addition, there are 14,458 schools that are privately run and 271 operated by state 1 This policy note is a product of a literature review, 13 key expert interviews, and a validation panel. 2 Adequacy – is the system providing adequate education inputs? 3 Equity – is the distribution of education services equitable? 4 Efficiency - Does the delivery of education lead to improved learning outcomes? 5 Participation - Are there mechanisms to involve the wider community in education governance?  universities and colleges (SUC) or local universities and colleges (LUCs) (de la Fuente, n.d.). The Department of Education (DepEd) has a Central Office, 17 Regional Offices (including BARMM), and 223 Schools Division Offices. There are school districts that have a functional line, but no bureaucratic/plantilla item. o By virtue of the Local Government Code of 1991, local school boards (LSB) exist at the division level, which is equivalent to a local government unit (i.e., province or city depending on size). Districts are the equivalent of municipalities or large barangays. The Governance of Basic Education Act (2001) further allowed for school-based management and mandated the creation of school governing councils. Illustration 1 is a visual representation of the Philippine education governance structure. Illustration 1. Philippine education governance structure Legend: Description, administrative structure, participatory governance structure. Source: Author’s visualization of various government issuances and key expert interviews.  o The LSBs program and manage the Special Education Fund (SEF), which is equivalent to 1% of an LGU’s real property tax collection. The SEF currently accounts for about 6% of public expenditures on education (Grageda, 2023; BLGF, 2023). In an email interview, DOF data showed that there is currently a wide disparity in SEF budgets, even in LGUs within the same income class. For 1st Class Cities, the lowest SEF recorded is Php4.6 million while the highest is Php2.6 billion, the median being Php200 million (BLGF, 2023). o Within a division, there is a mix of rural and urban schools. Spending for MOOE is on a per capita basis. According to two principals interviewed, other wrap-around costs to education (e.g., transportation), the students’ socio-economic profile, and differences in service costs are not taken into consideration when MOOE is computed. Additionally, there is no current mechanism for mid-school year increases in student population due to internal migration or school transfers. Based on a review of literature and key expert interviews, education governance in the Philippines is still highly centralized with some flavors of the three forms of decentralization, namely, deconcentration, devolution, and delegation: o Deconcentration:6 Politically and fiscally, the Central Office still holds the most power. Policymaking rests at the national level and a majority of the education budget comes from the national government (through GAA and intergovernmental transfers). Operationally, the bureaucracy is “deconcentrated” through the subnational offices (e.g., region, division, district) in that these offices are mandated to carry out central office policies, without surrender of authority of DepEd Central. o Devolution:7 The Local Government Code of 1991, the Governance of Basic Education Act (2001), the Basic Education Service Reform Agenda, and the K-12 Law (2013), have allowed for some aspects of devolution in the sense that field offices, communities, and schools can generate and program local funds (e.g., SEF), contextualize national policies to meet local needs, and translate policies into actionable programs such as in the hiring of teachers and development of mother tongue-based learning materials. However, the share of locally-generated funds in the education budget remains low, with almost half of local government units relying on National Tax Allocation (formerly, Internal Revenue Allotment or IRA) for 90% of their annual operating budgets (DOF, 2023). 6 Deconcentration refers to the relocation of bureaucrats from central to subnational branches of ministries without the surrender of authority of the central ministry (Eaton, 2001). Fiscally, more than half of the funds used by delivery units in subnational governments still come from the central government. 7 Devolution is the transfer of authority to subnational political actors, whose activities are substantially outside of the direct control of the central government (Rondinelli et al, 1984) and who have independent authority over revenues and expenditure. Fiscally, more than half of the funds used by the delivery units are generated at that level of governance.  o Delegation:8 Education delivery in the Philippines has historically been in partnership with the private schools. Through the creation of the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (FAPE), and the passage of the GASTPE Act and the K-12 Act, government funding is channeled to some private schools to augment public capacity to deliver basic education. Under this set-up, private schools, whether dependent or independent of government funding, manage their own schools, create their own lesson plans, hire their teachers, etc., while DepEd/the State reserves its de jure oversight functions. In reference to key education inputs, the governance of procurement, administration, and accountability is again a mix of deconcentration, devolution, and delegation. o Curriculum: Centrally determined but contextualized at the division level. Private schools are free to set their curricula if they meet the national minimum. o Standardized Assessment: Centrally developed and locally administered. Private schools participate in international learning assessments. o Teachers and School Heads: Centralized qualification criteria through its registry of qualified applicants; centralized determination of plantilla items; salaries are paid nationally but processing of applications and appointments are done at the division level. Private schools independently hire teachers and school heads using their own criteria. o Classrooms (Construction): Division Offices report classroom construction needs. Central Office collates division level information through an inventory and prioritizes construction projects through a criteria (i.e. makeshift classrooms, shifting of classes, etc). Budget request is then made at the national level. Budget is determined by Congress. Procurement and construction are done by DPWH District Engineering Offices; LGUs can also build classrooms. o Classrooms (Maintenance): Handled by the schools and divisions. o Learning Materials (Textbooks): Centrally procured; field offices can develop supplementary learning materials. o Technology/ICT: Centrally procured; schools’ MOOE covers internet subscription. There are many governance gaps that have been observed9 arising from the mixed and unclear governance structure of Philippine basic education. Table 1 below outlines these observations. These observations are themed under political and fiscal 8 Delegation refers to the conferring of decision-making powers to the smallest unit of service delivery, with the state preserving de jure responsibilities. In the case of education schools are the main decision makers and they generate their own revenues (Kang, 2020). 9 From 13 key expert interviews.  organization, and further nuanced based on the corresponding education governance policy objective an observation seeks to address. Table 1. Observed governance gaps in Philippine basic education. POLICY OBJECTIVES POLITICAL ORGANIZATION FISCAL ORGANIZATION A mix of deconcentration, Highly centralized: majority of the devolution, and delegation funds still come from national government Adequacy Has legal foundations (LGC, Not enough autonomy; Is the system giving GBEA, K-12 Law) schools follow a templated adequate education Subnational institutions do not School Improvement Plan and inputs? have legal mandate to act are then obligated to budget autonomously, usually for items that might be requiring clearance from irrelevant to their context central office Not enough funds to cover MOOE of schools; not enough time to properly disburse funds as planned Equity One size fits all (public and Inequitable given that there is Is the delivery of private) no provision for higher service education equitable? No mechanism for support costs (for rural schools) and that is adapted to the students’ socio-economic subnational level’s status, and local economic organizational capacity and development of locality resources Efficiency Too many layers, with Many program funds are held Does the delivery of overlapping and unclear at the national level, while education lead to mandates (region, division, those downloaded to improved learning district) subnational levels are tagged outcomes? Many policies do not make as “special allotment” making sense, e.g., textbooks treated regularity a problem as assets and subject to Subnational levels are rushed liquidation by teachers to spend funds from national No clear assessment of because of time constraints subnational institutions’ (one-year policy of use it or exercise of functions lose it) Whether fund utilization impacts learning because these are not tied to learning  outcome measures Participation Working LSBs have technical LGUs with more SEF can invest Are there mechanisms heads (former SDS), engaged in innovations to involve the wider local chief executive, and Schools are empowered to community in expanded membership (civil seek partnerships, but this can education society, private sector) get in the way of their teaching governance? and learning responsibilities International best practices share four policy objectives for political and fiscal decentralization, namely adequacy, equity, efficiency, and participatory governance (Al-Samarrai and Blane, eds, 2021). Key factors included in successful decentralization efforts include high autonomy, regular and standardized assessments, and robust accountability systems. Table 2 below is a summary, drawing from the successful experiences of Poland, Korea, Brazil, USA, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and select local government units in the Philippines. Table 2. Best practices POLICY OBJECTIVES POLITICAL DECENTRALIZATION FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION Adequacy High autonomy given to local Local governments raise and Is the system giving governments to own and manage education funds adequate education maintain schools, hire, (POLAND) inputs? promote and develop teachers Identifies a minimum spending (POLAND) per capita (BRAZIL) Performance is assessed using Desired spending per capita national standards (e.g., tracks towards international curriculum, teacher standards professional standards, learning outcomes) (POLAND) Equity Level of autonomy is adjusted Accounts for differences in Is the delivery of to local governments’ service costs, students’ education equitable? performance following socio-economic status, local standard good governance economic development level measures (KOREA) of local governments, existing capacity of subnational units (POLAND, BRAZIL) Presence of an equalizing fund in the form of grants to local governments (BRAZIL) Efficiency A Secretary General that is a Utilization rate and alignment Does the delivery of career officer co-leads the of budgets and expenditures to education lead to education agency with the desired education outcomes improved learning political appointee/minister (BRAZIL’s education quality outcomes? (MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE) index) Clearly articulated responsibilities (USA) Eliminated bad policies (POLAND, INDONESIA) Participation There is an institutionalized Civil society, parents, students Are there mechanisms platform for people’s and the wider community can to involve the wider participation (e.g., LSB of participate in the budget community in Valenzuela, Naga) process, procurement, etc. education (LGUs with the Seal of Good governance? Housekeeping, PHILIPPINES) It is proposed that Philippine governance move towards greater devolution and continued/increased delegation to private schools with proven track records. The devolved system’s political and fiscal organization are outlined below. The recommendations are guided by the principles of adequacy, equity, efficiency, and participatory governance. Political organization and functions DepEd National o Should be led by a Department Secretary and a career official/secretary general to ensure political support and service continuity across multiple political administrations. o Sets the curriculum, learning objectives and assessment standards. This ensures alignment with national development goals and international commitments (e.g., SDGs). o Sets the monitoring, evaluation, and accountability framework of the entire system. This is attendant to the nationally set curriculum and assessment standards, which then guides the evaluation of subnational governments’ performance.  o Sets the professional standards for teachers and school heads. This is one safeguard against politically-motivated hiring at the local level. o Sets the criteria and standards for inclusive and resilient learning environments. As curriculum standards and learning objectives are set nationally, so should the design of learning environments that would enable quality teaching and learning for all. This will allow for a standard set of criteria to be used to evaluate all education infrastructure and maintenance. DepEd Division = Local School Board (LSB) o This is equivalent to either a province or highly urbanized city. This will ensure a one to one correspondence between education-specific bureaucracy, an LGU unit, and a participatory governance mechanism. The LSB acts as an integration unit of national goals and minimum standards for education inputs and learning outcomes, and local context and development goals. o The main governance institution/body is the local school board composed of the local chief executive, division superintendent, representative(s) of district supervisors, Parent Teacher Association (PTA), civil society, private sector, student representative, and other interest groups (e.g., researchers/universities/Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutes). o The LSB formulates the division’s education agenda by setting and monitoring policies and programs based on the local development plans, local needs and capacity, and alignment with the national development plan. o The division’s education agenda includes improving access and learning outcomes, teacher and school head appointments and professional development, classroom maintenance, and monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. DepEd District o As a result of a rationalization plan, governance at the district level is not supported by additional compensation for school heads “deputized” to fill district supervisory roles and the human resources needed to meet the schools’ technical and operational needs. Further complicating district governance is the varying sizes of divisions, where there is no clear ratio of the number of schools a district supervisor is supposed to be in charge of. It is recommended that a district office, housed at the division office be established. This district office should be composed of a technical supervisor and an operational supervisor. The Technical supervisor oversees teaching and learning programs,  while the operational supervisor oversees human resource planning and development, classroom maintenance, fiscal reporting, and monitoring and evaluation of outputs. o A ratio of 1 supervisor to 7±2 schools is recommended (Acharya, et. al, 2017; Neilson and Wulf, 2012), depending on the spread and size of the supervised schools. Schools o Supervised by the DepEd District, but practices School-Based Management, as mandated by the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001 and the K-12 Law of 2013. o Headed by a school head and guided by a school governing council. One administrative assistant for each school, with an additional assistant for every additional 15 teachers. In an interview of a former DepEd director, a teacher has on average 3-4 ancillary tasks that takes him/her away from teaching and learning. An administrative assistant will deload teachers of these ancillary tasks. The recommended ratio is guided by insights from an interview of an acting school head of a small rural school and the principle of providing a minimum level of administrative support for all schools, even the smallest ones. o In charge of day-to-day delivery of education and implementation of the school improvement plan, schools are expected to collect data and monitor education inputs and outcomes. o Delegated private schools are autonomous in their operations but are required to submit access and learning outcomes reports to the division. This ensures accountability and alignment to national standards and development goals. Fiscal organization and functions DepEd National o Sets a minimum level of per capita spending across schools. This ensures equity of resources due to a learner, regardless of the size of his/her school and the level of development of his/her LGU. o Sets a local education support fund (LESF) as part of the regular allocations to divisions guided by an “education quality index” that ensures its adequate, equitable and accountable distribution of education resources across all LGUs of varying levels of development. The LESF will serve as an equity fund that  takes into account the income level of the LGU, local specificities (e.g., ancestral domain), existing human capital index, socio-economic status of students. o Monitors the alignment of local spending to national education objectives and sets minimum guidelines for the utilization of education funds. This allows for a performance-based monitoring of the use of the LESF and improved utilization of local resources, which currently is low (only 59% of SEF budget was utilized by LGUs in 2022).10 o Teacher salaries are nationally regulated, connected to professional standards and government salary grade, to insulate teachers from politicking. This is done in many countries with successful decentralized education governance systems like Poland and Indonesia. DepEd Division = Local School Board o Directly receives and manages funds from the national government, like the proposed Local Education Support Fund. o Raises and manages the Special Education Fund and a share of the local development fund allocated to social services, including education. This will incentivize LGUs to regularly update their schedule of market values (SMV) that is the basis of the real property taxes and thereby their SEF collection. Additionally, LGUs (and LSBs) will have more control and responsibility over education inputs in their division. o In the management of a division’s education funds, divisions ensure adequate, equitable, and accountable distribution of education budget across schools in the division and they ensure regular and predictable fund availability in support of the implementation of the local education plan. o Procures for classroom construction, school maintenance and major repairs, and bulk learning materials like computers, workbooks and lab equipment. DepEd District o The district office acts as a layer of monitoring and accountability in the disbursement and utilization of education funds. The operations supervisor monitors fund utilization and reviews schools’ financial reports. Technical supervisor monitors alignment of budgets and fund utilizations to the division’s desired teaching and learning outputs and outcomes. 10 BLGF, 2023  Schools o As the smallest fiscal unit, schools ensure the proper utilization of maintenance and other operating expenses. They prepare the school budget in line with the school improvement plan and the reporting requirements. o Delegated private schools are required to submit financial and learning reports (liquidation, SEC filing, etc.) to the division and other relevant government agencies for funds received from the government. Other recommendations: Reconvene the Philippine Education Forum that crafted the BEDP 2030 and reconfigure it into a national advisory board composed of representatives from league of governors and league of cities, a national divisions superintendent representative, PTA, civil society, industry, and researchers to help DepEd monitor the BEDP implementation and craft a new national education agenda. This ensures a layer of institutionalized participatory governance at the national level. Conduct annual census-based national post-elementary and post-secondary assessments. Sample-based mid-year diagnostic and formative assessments should also be conducted. The success of the proposed fiscal and political devolution of Philippine basic education should be assessed against desired learning outcomes. An unbiased body should be set up to monitor the system’s performance. It is recommended that a third-party national assessment agency and education development institute that reports to the President be established. Outputs of these agencies shall inform the development and monitoring of the education quality index (EQI). Create a six-year devolution transition plan, covering two presidential administrations, to bridge governance gaps that happen during a political transition: o Year 1: ▪ Audit of LGUs – financial, institutional, and participatory governance capacity. Government awards could be a base signal of an LGU’s technical competence. ▪ Audit of School Divisions – organizational history and staffing to guide the organizational design and capacitation of school divisions and districts. ▪ Start with 40-50 divisions (equivalent to 20% of total divisions, Pareto rule) that have a mix of urban and rural schools, with an above average  SEF for its income level, and a working local school board (LSB) that has a technical education officer in charge of the secretariat. Private schools continue to enjoy delegated powers but are subjected to national assessments. o Give the rest of the school divisions five years to get to a level of capacity and performance that makes them eligible for devolution. 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