Higher allowances
for teachers pushed
DEPUTYSpeakerandBa-
tangas Rep. Vilma San-
tos is proposing higher
allowance for public
school teachers.
. InfilingHouse Bill3449,
Santos lamented that the
840,000 public school
teachers most of the time
have to spend theirperson-
al money to buy teaching
materials such as chalks-,
erasers, forms, and other
classroom supplies.
The bill to Ue called
Teaching Supplies Allow-
ance Act, provides that a
Teaching Supplies Allow-
ance for the purchase of
chalks, eraser3, forms and
other classroom supplies
and materials will bi in-
creased to p1O000.
The grant of the cash
allowanie shall be limited
to teachers who are en-
gaged in acfual classroom
teaching in public basic ed-
ucation.
- The bill mandates.that
in the first year of effectiv-
ity of the Act, the amount
of- P3500 per teacher per
schml yeardlall be charsed
against the current ap-
propriations of the Db-
partnent of Education
(DepEd) for the Teach-
ing Supplies Allowance,
while the additional
per teacher per
P6.,500-
school year shall -be
charged against any
available funds and/6r
savings of the DepEd.
The P10,000 per
teacher per sdrool year
shall be'included iri tne
DepEd budget for
Teaching Supplies Al-
lowance under the Gen-
Act
lfilffn'"oriations
The Teachine Sup- \"
plies Allow"t c" si"ll6"
exemptfromincometax,
the measure provides.
Meanwhiie, the bill
also seeks to increase the
present cash allowance
of teachers by 185 per-
cent, from tlie present
Pq,50g per teaclher per
school year to P10,000
per teacher per sclrool
year.
Inspite of the increas-
ing budget allocation
that the pepEd ArJoys,
'santos-Recto said the cash
allowance provided to
teachers just translates to
a P16 subsidy per dav.
which is relativetv insufft :
cient in assistirig class-
room teachers tddetver
informative lectures and
stimulating class discus-
sions to thecountry's 22.1
million public sch6ot stu-
dents. '
Santos-RectocitedRe-
public Act 4670 or the
Magna Carta for public
School Teachers, man-
dates that the salaries of
public school teachers
"shall be such as to insure
teadrerc a reasonable stan-
dard of life for themselves
and theirfdmilies."
Unfortunately, San-
tos-Recto said the sala-
ries of pubhc school teactr-
ers are currentlv bound bv
the Salary Stinaaraiza'-
tion taw (SSL), hence,
compensation increases
would be subiect to com-
pa{song with the qualifi-
cation, skills and difficul-
9es of other positions in
thegovemmml
,;.-;JrfileJil1;teChf
PaSeT