SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
Cities are the most capable to fund educational services yet, some of them still fall short of the average spending per public school student, the government's latest tax watch ad shows
MANILA, Philippines – Among local government units, cities are best equipped to fund education services.
Yet, two in 5 Philippine cities spend less than P1,000 ($23.05*) per public school student, the latest tax watch ad from the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) said Wednesday, July 9.
On the average, a city spends P1,000 ($23.05) per public school student.
In 2013, out of 143 cities (excluding San Pedro City, which was ratified into cityhood in 2013), 88 spent below this amount.
Section 235 of the Local Government Code allows provinces and cities nationwide, as well as municipalities within Metro Manila, to impose a 1% levy on the assessed value of properties, in addition to the basic real property tax (RPT), for their Special Education Fund (SEF).
The SEF levy is meant to fund the “operations and maintenance of public schools, construction and repair of school buildings, facilities and equipment, educational research, purchase of books, and sports development.” The SEF is automatically released to the city school board.
Lamitan City in Basilan had the lowest spending per public school student at P35 ($0.81). It also had the lowest SEF worth P680,000 ($15,677.24).
Makati City spent the highest, at P16,404 ($378.22). It also recorded the highest SEF at P1.47 billion ($33.9 million).
The capital of the country, Manila, spent P4,607 ($106.24) per public school student and an SEF worth P1.36 billion ($31.36 million).In June, DOF-BLGF stated in its tax watch ad that 4 in 5 Philippine cities use outdated schedule of market values (SMVs) for the collection of RPT.
“Revenues for public school education services increase proportionately when the SMVs of the LGU is updated regularly and if collection is efficient,” DOF-BLGF pointed out.
On July 2, DOF-BLGF tax watch ad showed that out of 80 provinces (excluding the newly created province of Davao Occidental), 52 provinces collected below the average spending of P330 ($7.61) per public school student. – Rappler.com
*($1 = P43.39)
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
Loading
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.