To: Bureau Directors
Regional Secretary, ARMM
Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
Heads, Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
All Others Concerned

1. For the information, guidance and compliance of all concerned, enclosed is a copy of the National Budget Circular (NBC) No. 531 dated October 27, 2011 entitled Revised Guidelines on the Grant of Step Increments for Specializing in Teaching Science and/or Mathematics (Enclosure No. 1).
2. In accordance with Section 8.0 of said Circular, the Department of Education (DepEd) hereby issues the following Implementing Guidelines on the Grant of Three (3) Salary Step Increments for Teachers with Specialization in Science and/or Mathematics and computation for corresponding annual budgetary estimates:a. The School Head (SH) shall determine qualified teachers pursuant to Section 5.0 of aforementioned Circular based on the review and evaluation of the following records and documents:
   • i. Approved Appointment;
   • ii. Transcript of Records;
   • iii. Certificates of Trainings completed in Science and/or Mathematics;
   • iv. Individual Teacher’s Program indicating daily subject load for the last three (3) school years;
   • v. Performance Rating for the last three (3) school years; and
   • vi. Updated Service Records.

   b. A teacher to be qualified to the step increment must have been teaching Science and/or Mathematics continuously for the last three (3) school years prior to the cut-off date. As such, qualifiers for the following cut-off periods shall be:

   Cut-off Period	Teaching Experience
   As of December 31, 2010	SY 2007-2008; SY 2008-2009; and SY 2009-2010;
   As of December 31, 2011	SY 2008-2009; SY 2009-2010; and SY 2010-2011
   As of December 31, 2012	SY 2009-2010; SY 2010-2011; and SY 2011-2012

   c. The SH shall prepare and recommend for approval two (2) separate lists of qualifiers to this benefit for Fiscal Years 2011 and 2012, as shown below, using the Form A (Enclosure No. 2). These lists shall be submitted to the Division Office (DO), together with the required supporting documents.

   List	Fiscal Year	Qualifiers Cut-Off Period	Salary Step Increment Differential
   1	FY 2011	As of December 31, 2010	January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012
   2	FY 2012	As of December 31, 2011	January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012

   d. Also attached are Table 1 in Enclosure No. 4 and Table 2 in Enclosure No. 5 (Salary Differential Schedule for FYs 2011 and 2012, respectively) as reference in the computation of annual budgetary requirements for salary step increment. The 3-step salary increment shall be applied based on the salary received by the teacher as of December 31 of a particular year.

   e. The Division Human Resource Management Officer (HRMO)/ Administrative Officer (AO) shall:

   1. Review the entries in Form A vis-a-vis the supporting documents submitted and prepare the Summary Data of Science/Mathematics Teachers Qualified for the Grant of Salary Step Increments in the elementary and secondary schools using the attached Form B (Enclosure No. 3). The accomplished Forms shall be approved by the Schools Division/City Superintendent (SDS);
   2. Prepare the corresponding Notice of Salary Adjustment (NOSA) of qualified teachers to be signed by the SDS using the prescribed template under Annex A of NBC No. 531;
   3. Release the original copy of signed NOSA to the teachers concerned, and shall furnish with copies thereof, the DepED- Regional Payroll Services Unit, and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), for purposes of integrating their new salary rates in the monthly payroll and service records, respectively, effective January 1, 2013; and
   4. Prepare and submit to the Department of Budget and Management Regional Offices (DBM-ROs) the Plantilla of Personnel and Salary Adjustment Details, sample copy in Enclosure No. 6.

   f. On the basis of the approved Forms A and B, the Division Accountant/Budget Officer-designate shall compute for the monthly and annual funding requirements to implement this salary step increment, including related compensation and fixed expenditure adjustments the Schedules of Salary Step-Increment Differential – Tables 1 and 2).

   g. Payment of salary adjustments under these guidelines shall be charged against appropriations for the purpose in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) or any available savings of the Division Office (DO) or secondary school. It is understood that payments of salary step increment differentials due to the concerned Science/Mathematics teachers are subject to the corresponding mandatory deductions for Philhealth, Retirement and Life Insurance Premium and Income Tax Return.

   h. In case there are no available savings, SDS/SH of implementing units shall request the DBM-RO for the release of special allotment and cash allocation for the purpose.

   i. For qualifiers beginning FY 2013 (those who qualify as of cut-off date December 31, 2012) and every year thereafter, the SH and the concerned officials involved in this process shall facilitate the immediate issuance of NOSA and the subsequent integration in their monthly payroll, to avoid accumulation of unpaid obligations for salary step increments.

   j. It is emphasized that the grant of three (3) salary steps increment for this purpose is only once. The Division HRMO/AO shall maintain a Registry of Science and Mathematics Teachers already granted the salary steps increment in this regard.

3. Copies of approved Forms A and B, accomplished in MS Excel template format, shall be sent by the SH through email to the Division HRMO who shall then be responsible in furnishing the Division Regional Planning Units with the hard copies of said forms. Electronic copies shall be furnished also to the Research and Statistics Division-Office of Planning Service (RSD-OPS), DepEd Central Office, DepEd Complex, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City, on or before the end of first quarter of each year (March 31), for records purposes.
4. The DepEd Central Office and/or Regional Offices shall monitor the proper implementation of this Order.
5. Queries/Clarifications shall be referred to the Management Division (Attention: Ms. Louisa S. Roberto) at telephone no.: (02) 633-7248 or send a message through e-mail address: mgtdiv_depedcentral@yahoo.com.
6. All rules, regulations and issuances, which are inconsistent with these guidelines are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
7. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is directed.

Encls.: As stated
References: DepEd Memorandum: Nos.: 203 and 416, s. 2010

To be indicated in the Perpetual Index under the following subjects:
BENEFITS
FUNDS
LEGISLATIONS
POLICY
SALARY
SCIENCE EDUCATION
TEACHERS

DO_s2012_79