Track: Operations Research

Abstract

Special Education (SPED) was established to meet the needs of children with different types of disabilities and other special needs, and designed to adhere to necessities which mass education was incapable to support. In the Philippines, there are 648 public SPED centers nationwide (DepEd, 2017) and each center has the authority to determine which activities to implement and how much budget should be allocated for each activity. Department of Education (DepEd) obliged each SPED center to utilize the apportioned percentage of the great subsidy for student development activities to ensure that the needs of the children will be provided. Therefore, accurate decision making in prioritizing student development activities for SPED is necessary to ensure that the allocation of funds in each center is geared towards the goals and objectives of the central SPED unit. However, based on data, selection of activities and allocation of budget per activity varies among centers since the current system of each center regarding prioritization of activities and allocation of budget was not clearly defined because no certain basis has been established. Therefore, prioritization of activities and allocation of resources must be developed. Given this condition, the researchers aim to formulate a priority-based financial allocation model for student development activities in SPED centers. Using statistical analysis, the researchers were able to identify significant factors that must be considered in formulation of model such as (a) number of students served (b) number of activities implemented (c) types of disabilities catered and (4) amount of funds received.