The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is set to submit to Congress its proposed budget for next year amounting to P1.137 trillion, which Andaya said was an "education-biased budget," before the month ends.
He said that based on allocations per department, education tops the list with a proposed share of P134 billion, representing an increase of 20 percent compared to its level this year of P112 billion.
"This is the highest increment in the history for education," Andaya said. "It is (meant) to address the agency’s requirements as the student population grows every year."
The forecast enrollment in public elementary and high schools next schoolyear is 18.2 million.
This proposed budget level will allow DepEd to achieve a 1:1 pupil and textbook ratio. To realize this, Andaya said, over P2 billion must be earmarked for reading materials for schoolyear 2007-2008.
Also included in the 2007 budget is P2.4 billion for private high school vouchers, as the number of beneficiaries for this program will be increased by 60,000 students to 607,000.
Also lined up for funding, he said, is a "National English Proficiency program" meant to hone English teaching skills in public schools.
"We are looking at P1 billion for teachers’ training next year," he said.
This allocation will cover the "TeleSerye Para Kay Ma’am" television program that features "subject mastery classes."
Andaya also said there will be a "generous allocation" for classroom construction to accommodate the influx of enrollees increased by the natural growth rate, plus those migrating from private schools.
He said the education and manpower sector, to which DepEd belongs, will actually receive a total increase of P26.5 billion, bringing the allocation for the sector up to P162.6 billion this year.
He said the final figure for the DepEd 2007 budget can still change as it must still be approved by President Arroyo and the Cabinet, "but two things are sure: The 20 percent increase is the minimum and DepEd will retain its number one spot."
Andaya earlier said Malacañang already submitted to Congress a long list of teaching personnel and classroom requirements in its proposed P46.43-billion supplementary budget for this year.
He said the spending measure also gives priority to education, among other agencies, allocating to it the biggest slice of P8.6 billion.