SIXTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

“Tntroduced by Representative Rufiss B. Rodrigues and
‘Representative Maximo B. Rodriguez, Jr.
House Bill No. 3468

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

Special schools and private educational institutions, both primary and secondary in
which children of wealthy families study undeniably provide the best quality of education
available in the country

In fact, statistics shows that graduates of these institutions normally meet the
admission requirements imposed by respected universities, obtain their undergraduate
degrees with honors and end up as successful career individuals

Further, and perhaps more importantly, these children, given the wide range of
academic and non-academic opportunities given them, are more secure, healthy and
confident individuals than their counterparts from ordinary public schools or institutions of
academic learning,

There is a need to provide exceptionally brilliant or gifted students from poor families
the same educational opportunities, which children from wealthier families have. Albeit
special schools already offer existing scholarship programs to indigent students, these are
usually sporadic and not institutionalized.

The proposed measure seeks to provide educational opportunities for disadvantaged
children by giving them the same choices among all elementary and secondary schools and
other academic programs availed of by those of well-to-do families. Hopefully, this measure
will enable these children end up as more productive and critical individuals than what they
would have normally become under the present educational set up

Immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

MAXIMO BRI OROeD

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SIXTEENTH CONGRESS )
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES }
First Regular Session

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Introduced by Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez and
Representative Maximo B. Rodriquez, Jr.

House Bill No. 3468

AN ACT
TO PROVIDE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN,
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled.

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Excellence Through Choice to
Elevate Learning Act’.

SEC 2. Purposes. - The purposes of this Act are to:
(a) give children from low-income families the same choices among all elementary
and secondary schools and other academic programs as children from wealthier

families already have;

(b) improve schools and other academic programs by giving parents in low-income
families increased consumer power to choose the schools and programs that the
parents determine best fit the needs of their children; and

(c) fully engage parents in their children’s schooling; and,

(d) give parents in low-income families a choice among pubic, private and religious
schools for their children and access to the same academic options as parents in
wealthy families have for their children.

SEC 3. Program Authority. - The Department of Education, hereinafter referred to as
“Department” shall carry out educational choice programs that provide scholarships in
accordance with this Act to five (5) deserving students from poor families per region of the
country, to any private elementary or high school chosen by such students or their parents;
Provided, that such students shall meet the requirements for admission in said school or
institution.

For purposes of this Act, the term “poor families” means families whose aggregate
income per year is not more than One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00).

SEC 4. Scholarship. —
(1) InGeneral —
(a) Scholarship Awards - the Department shall provide scholarships to the
parents of eligible children, in accordance with subsection (b). The
Department shall ensure that the scholarships may be redeemed for
elementary or secondary education for the children at any of a broad
variety of public and private schools, including religious schools in the

country.
(b) Scholarship Amount — the amount of each scholarship shall not be less
than P50,000.00 or equivalent to expenditure requirements set forth in a


‘school of choice per year. Each selected student shall also be entitled to
a stipend of P1,000.00 per month.

(c) Tax Exemption — Scholarships awarded under this Act shall not be
considered income of the parents for income tax purposes or for
determining eligibility for any other program.

(2) Eligible Children — to be eligible to receive a scholarship under this Act a child
shall be selected from a list of aspirants recommended or endorsed by the
school where such child is currently enrolled in. The Department shall come up
with selection standards or criteria which include, among others, series of
examinations and interviews.

SEC 5. Continuing Eligibility. - The Department shall provide a scholarship in each year of
the program to each child who received a scholarship during the previous year of the
program, unless:
(a) the child no longer attends school;
(b) the child's family income exceeds by 50% or more; or
(c) the child is expelled for failure to meet the educational requirements
imposed by the school or institution or convicted of a felony, including
felonious drug, possession of a weapon on school grounds, or a violent
act against another student or a member of the schools faculty.

SEC 6. Uses of Funds. - Any scholarship awarded under this Act for a year shall be used
for:

(1) the payment of tuition and fees at the school selected by the parents of
the child for whom the scholarship was provided;
(2) the reasonable costs of the child's transportation to the school, if the

school is not the school to which the child would be assigned in the
absence of a program under this Act; and

(3) for educational programs that helps the eligible child achieve high levels
of academic excellence in the school attended by the eligible child, if the
eligible child chooses to attend a public school

SEC 7. Funding Requirements. - There shall be authorized to be appropriated from
resources allocated to the Department such sums as may be necessary to implement the
provisions of this Act.

SEC 8 Separabllity Clause. — If any provision or part hereof, is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall
remain valid and subsisting.

SEC 9. Repealing Clause. — Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive order,
letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to or inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, modified or amended accordingly

SEC 10. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in at
least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,