Abstract
School-Based Management (SBM) served as a key strategy for enhancing education governance in the Philippines by promoting participatory decision-making and shared accountability among stakeholders. Despite its promise, its implementation in public secondary schools remained constrained by resource limitations, communication issues, and inconsistent stakeholder participation. This study explored barriers and formulated recommendations to strengthen stakeholder engagement in SBM implementation in public secondary schools in Lucena City. Anchored on Republic Act No. 9155 and DepEd Order No. 007, s. 2024, the study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods design integrating quantitative and qualitative data to obtain a comprehensive understanding of stakeholder experiences. A total of 360 stakeholders, comprising school heads, teachers, parents, alums, and community representatives, responded to a structured survey, while a purposive sample participated in semi-structured interviews. Quantitative findings revealed significant barriers across the four SBM dimensions: conflicting work schedules (WAM = 3.64), poor communication systems (WAM = 3.03), limited authority in resource allocation (WAM = 3.35), inadequate access to school data (WAM = 3.55), lack of experiential learning tools (WAM = 3.62), and weak monitoring systems (WAM = 3.58), with significant variations in perceptions across demographic profiles. Qualitative analysis reinforced these findings, highlighting limited empowerment, a lack of transparency, and insufficient collaboration. Integration of both data strands confirmed that structural and relational barriers jointly impeded effective stakeholder participation. Based on these insights, the study proposed Enhanced Programs, Projects, and Activities (PPAs) that include leadership capacity-building, curriculum co-creation workshops, transparency initiatives, and resource governance training to promote inclusive, participatory, and sustainable school governance.
