1.   Article XIV (Section 1, 2, & 11) of the Philippine Constitution and other legal documents, the most recent of which is Republic Act 7277 otherwise known as the “Magna Carta for Disabled Persons” have enunciated that the children with special needs have the right to education, equality of opportunity and participation in society. The recent 1996-1997 DECS statistics on enrolment of children with special needs points out that only 90,000 or 2% of the targeted 4 million children with special needs have been served in schools.

2.   To expand and strengthen the institutionalization of SPED program in all schools as contained in DECS Order No. 26, s. 1997, the salary grades for SPED teachers and special school principals as contained in Republic Act No. 6758 (An Act Prescribing a Revised Compensation and Position Classification System in the Government and for Other Purposes) shall be implemented. Regional Directors shall submit recommendation to the Chief of the Management Division, Financial Management Service, DECS for reclassification of regular teachers and regular school principal items to SPED teacher and special school principal items for those actually involved in providing educational services to children with special needs subject to established guidelines on availability of funds. Hence, the reclassification of items for SPED teachers and principals shall be implemented on staggered basis.

3.  The guidelines for the reclassification of regular teacher and regular principal items to SPED teacher and special school principal items respectively including the pertinent papers and documents needed are found in Inclosure No. 1.

4.  Pertinent papers and documents of SPED Teachers and Special School Principals shall be submitted to the Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports thru Channels.