Financial Management and Resource Allocation Practices in the Schools Division of Surigao Del Norte, Philippines

The purpose of this study is to investigate the financial management and resource allocation practices of schools in the Schools Division of Surigao del Norte. Specifically, the researcher aims to identify the obstacles encountered by these school heads in allocating the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) budget provided by the government, as well as the strategies they employ to address these challenges. Specifically, it described the profile of the school such as school type, school category, school classification in MOOE and school head’s appointment status. It made use of a descriptive research design employing survey technique to find the extent of financial management and resource allocation practices of school heads. The participants were the selected 56 school heads and 711 teachers of the entire schools’ division. A researcher made questionnaire was used to gather the data needed in this study. The statistical tools used included: frequency count and percentage computation, mean and standard deviation, T-test and Chi-square test. This study found out that schools Slightly practiced accounting on managing their finances. Least prioritize by the school heads is the student-support activities. Majority of the school heads overlooked the student-support activities and tend to allocate so much on infrastructure development. There is a significant difference of responses of school heads and teachers when it comes to assessing the financial management and resource allocation of their school. School administrators lack the necessary financial management abilities and as a result they fail to effectively and efficiently oversee spending through the budget. Teachers were not involved in the budgetary process and as a result, they tend to assess not so good scores on the financial management and resource allocation practices of their respective school.