Mayor’s office to take over education fund

THE mayor’s office will take over the allocation of the Special Education Fund (SEF) for Cebu City’s scholarship program.

Mayor Michael Rama said he wants to oversee the use of the SEF allocation instead of  Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, who handled  the fund during his tenure as education consultant under former mayor Tomas Osmeña.

The mayor said he is consulting with educators on how the funds would be spent.

The SEF is taken from a 1 percent share  of real property taxes collected in Cebu City and is supposed to be managed by the Cebu City School Board.

Vice Mayor Young said Rama can do as he pleases with the fund and review how the SEF was spent for the last decade.

“He (Rama) can look at the expenses in the last 10 years.  There are no excessive expenses there.  All of of our expenses are for programs, the reason why the school board fund survived,” Young said.

Young said he could only anticipate the SEF would go to improve school stages, fences and parks based on the mayor’s preferences.

For starters, Mayor Rama said an additional P1,000 will be given to the Cebu City scholars who already receive P10,000 each in funding aid from the city after graduating from high school to ensure they can enroll in a college or university.

Rama said the scholarship fund will continue even without the sale of properties to finance the program.

The P10,000 educational assistance is directly paid to colleges and universities where they are enrolled. Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac