Providing schools with direct funding tomeet their operational needs is the cornerstone of thegovernment's efforts to strengthen school-basedmanagement in the Philippines. Over the past five years,funds that the government has provided directly to schoolsto support their maintenance and other operating expenseshave increased by 45 percent in real terms, demonstratingthe government's commitment both to increasingoperational funding and to providing schools with thefunding that they need to implement their own improvement plans.