HOUSE Committee on Basic Education and Culture has approved House Bill No. 7607, which seeks to strengthen the Department of Education by allowing the designation of more than one schools division superintendent per city or province.

The bill proposes amendments to Republic Act No. 9155, or the Governance of Basic Education Act, enacted 25 years ago in 2001. Under the current law, DepEd can assign only one schools division superintendent per city or province, regardless of its size or number of schools.

During deliberations, Second Congressional Commission on Education Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee cited administrative bottlenecks and inequities. He highlighted examples where similarly sized divisions manage vastly different numbers of schools, such as Caloocan City with 319 schools versus Leyte with 1,363, and disparities in student-to-staff ratios like Rizal’s 1:53 versus Cotabato City’s 1:7.

House Bill 7607 aims to allow the Secretary of Education to appoint additional superintendents, particularly in divisions overseeing more than 1,000 schools, as well as extra assistant superintendents and district supervisors.

DepEd expressed support, noting that splitting large divisions under current law requires separate legislation, a time-consuming process. Committee Chair Roman Romulo underscored the practical need for reform:

“Currently, no matter how large a city or province is, you can only have one superintendent. This bill provides the flexibility we need,” he said.