No budget for 276 public schools

MANILA, Philippines — Hundreds of newly established public schools are operating without a budget due to the failure of Congress to pass the 2019 General Appropriations Act.

Data released by the Department of Education (DepEd) showed that the schools with a total funding requirement of P93.617 million this year are affected by the delay in the passage of this year’s budget.

The government is currently operating on a re-enacted budget, pending the approval of the 2019 outlay.

But since the 276 schools are newly established, no funding was allocated for them in last year’s budget.

The affected schools include 111 newly established schools, 153 public schools converted into integrated schools, and 12 annexes that were separated from their main campuses.

Despite the lack of budget, Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla yesterday said the operations of the schools would not be disrupted.

She said they are currently being funded through various sources, including the division offices where they are located.

“We are taking immediate measures to help them,” she said. “We cannot ask the schools to stop operating and we will do something about this. There will be fund sources to cover the operations of newly established schools.”

She said they are in close coordination with the Department of Budget and Management to address the matter.