A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

This arrangement the Commission unqualifiedly condemns. It is not
a sufficient defense of the plan to say that the appointment and promotions
of school officers have not actually been interfered with by persons outside the professional staff of the Bureau. The fact remains of the
potential' danger of political control. Furthermore, the fact should be
stressed that the approval of the Council of State on major educational
appointments has not always been perfunctory. In at least two years
the annual contract for the Director of Education was not approved
until after March first.
In principle the present form is essentially unsound and should be
modified to give the Bureau of Education complete and final power
over its own budget. The Commission would go much farther in its
disapproval of present methods. It has in mind especially the practice
of voting a detailed budget for itemized purposes. Legislative control
should proceed no farther than the periodic appropriation of a total
educational budget distributing funds only among the large divisions of
educational activities. The Director under the general supervision of
the Secretary of Public Instruction should be left free to administer that
total budget as the professional needs of the schools demand, limited
only by this very general distribution of funds.
2. The distribution of insular aid has been determined by the Government.-The Commission regards that, as a professional function of the
Bureau of Education, insular aid should be distributed to schools
purely on the basis of educational needs and service. Political considerations should be permitted to play no part. Under the present
arrangement they not only may but have played a very considerable
role. The Commission recommends, therefore, that power over the
distribution of insular aid be given to the Department of Public
Instruction.
3. The allotment of school building aid.-One of the most striking
illustrations of the effect of giving the control of insular aid to the
Legislature is in the case of allotment of school building aid. From
1907 to 1919, inclusive, the distribution and release of insular aid for
school buildings was under the control of the Secretary of Public Instruction. Provision was made under the Gabaldon Act by which
barrios and municipalities were aided in the construction of school buildings. The recommendation of plans for using the aid was made by the
division superintendent, the building plans were approved by the architects of the Bureau of Education and the Bureau of Public Works.
A study of insular aid shows that a number of changes have taken
place from 1919 to the present. Up to the former date, the distribution
and use of insular aid was on a thoroughly professional basis.