THE Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) is urging Congress to increase funding for school principal positions in the proposed 2027 national budget, warning that the 3,000 new posts allocated for next year would be insufficient to address the leadership vacuum in thousands of public schools.
As of January 2026, only 21,660 of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) 48,113 public schools, or 45 percent, were headed by Principal I to IV. The remaining 26,453 schools were being managed by head teachers or other personnel.
Of greater concern, 13,313 schools have no designated principal or head teacher position, leaving their leadership responsibilities to teachers appointed as Teacher-in-Charge (TIC) or Officer-in-Charge (OIC), often without the authority and institutional support given to full-fledged school heads.
EDCOM 2 said the shortage undermines school management and instructional leadership, which are essential to improving learning outcomes, strengthening teacher development and ensuring the effective delivery of academic and learner-support programs.
Under Republic Act No. 9155 and DepEd Order No. 24, series of 2020, school principals serve as instructional leaders and are responsible for school improvement, stakeholder engagement, administrative operations and fiscal management. They also oversee programs such as the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program, School-Based Feeding Program, and mental health and wellness initiatives.
DepEd guidelines require a principal position for a school, or a cluster of at least three schools, with a combined total of nine or more teachers. A head teacher position is required for schools or clusters with at least six teachers, as well as standalone Last Mile Schools and those in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, regardless of size.
Thousands of schools lack qualified leadership
EDCOM 2 identified 3,765 high-need schools with at least nine teachers but no principal or head teacher position.
One example is Koronadal National Comprehensive High School in South Cotabato, where an officer-in-charge oversees 402 teachers and 10,602 learners despite having limited fiscal and decision-making authority and no formal career pathway as a school leader.
Another 5,000 schools with at least nine teachers are headed only by head teachers. Combined with the high-need schools, 8,888 institutions fall short of DepEd’s prescribed leadership requirements.
However, only 3,000 additional School Principal I positions are proposed under the FY 2027 budget.
EDCOM 2 estimates that 7,379 new positions are needed to address the leadership gap in the 8,888 priority schools, after accounting for 1,149 existing vacancies. Funding these positions would require ₱5.493 billion in first-year salaries.
Even if all 3,000 proposed positions are funded, approximately 4,379 priority schools would still lack a principal.
The proposed allocation also falls short of the National Education and Workforce Development Plan (NatPlan) 2026–2035, which targets full principal coverage across public schools by 2028.
The plan calls for at least 6,000 new principal positions in 2026, 8,000 in 2027 and 8,124 in 2028. The 3,000 positions proposed for next year represent only 37.5 percent of the 2027 target.
EDCOM 2 also raised concerns over the slow filling of existing vacancies. Of the 6,000 new Principal I positions created for FY 2026, only 843 had been filled as of September 30, leaving 5,157 vacant.
“Schools with 25, 50 or more teachers urgently need full-time school principals. Approximately 1.4 million learners attend these large schools—typically with 900 students and 30 teachers. And yet thousands of them have no one formally accountable for learning outcomes,” said EDCOM 2 Executive Director Dr. Karol Mark Yee.
“Every principal post we leave unfunded is a school where teachers carry leadership work on top of a full teaching load,” he added.
EDCOM 2 calls for additional funding
To address the shortage, EDCOM 2 recommended allocating at least 5,000 additional School Principal I positions for FY 2027, on top of the 3,000 already proposed, to meet the NatPlan target of 8,000 new posts.
It also urged DepEd to prioritize the 3,765 high-need schools, particularly those with more than 25 teachers, in the distribution of new principal positions.
The commission further called on the education department to fast-track the appointment of personnel to the 5,157 vacant principal positions created under the 2026 budget.
EDCOM 2 stressed that providing public schools with qualified and adequately supported leaders is critical to improving education quality, strengthening accountability and ensuring better learning outcomes for Filipino students.
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