House bill doubling public school teachers' supplies allowance OK'd on 3rd reading
At A Glance
- The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading the proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act, which seeks to raise the supplies allowance of public elementary and secondary teachers from the current P5,000 to P10,000.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading the proposed Teaching Supplies Allowance Act, which seeks to raise the supplies allowance of public elementary and secondary teachers from the current P5,000 to P10,000.
Lawmakers approved the measure contained within House Bill (HB) No. 9682, by virtue of 247 affirmative votes during the plenary session on Tuesday, Dec. 12.
“The selfless service of our educators is priceless, and we hope to address one of the many concerns they have through the provision of this supplies allowance, which will not be subject to income tax,” House Speaker Martin Romualdez said in a statement after the bill's final passage.
From the annual P5,000 allowance, it will increase to P7,500 for the School Year (SY) 2024-2025.
In the succeeding school years, the annual allowance will be P10,000 per public school teacher under the primary education curriculum.
“This much-needed allowance for teachers is long overdue, and by passing this relevant bill, we hope to strengthen our commitment to the welfare of our public teachers,” said Romualdez.
“We are open to harmonizing the measure with the Senate as soon as possible,” he added.
In May, the Senate approved its counterpart measure, Senate Bill (SB) No. 1964, or the “Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act”, which proposes the same amount of supplies allowance for teachers.
Section 4 of HB No. 9682, says the allowance can be used to buy tangible or intangible teaching supplies and materials, pay incidental expenses, and implement or conduct various learning delivery modalities.
According to Romualdez, the amount necessary for implementing the proposed law will be included in the budget of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA). --Dexter Barro II