Abstract
Educational disruptions require school leaders to manage financial resources strategically to sustain learning and strengthen institutional resilience. This study examined the relationship between school heads’ strategic financial management and learning continuity resilience in basic education in Region III (Central Luzon), Philippines, as a basis for developing a School Resource Management Framework. Specifically, it assessed the levels of strategic financial management and learning continuity resilience, determined the relationship between the variables, identified significant predictors of resilience, and explored school heads’ experiences, challenges, and innovative practices in managing resources during educational disruptions. A mixed-methods research design was employed, involving 300 school heads in the quantitative phase and 30 participants in the qualitative phase. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis, while qualitative data were examined through thematic analysis. Findings revealed very high levels of strategic financial management (M = 4.28) and learning continuity resilience (M = 4.19). A strong and statistically significant positive relationship was found between strategic financial management and learning continuity resilience (r = .742, p < .001). Furthermore, strategic financial management explained 61.5% of the variance in learning continuity resilience, with strategic financial decision-making emerging as the strongest predictor. Qualitative findings emphasized adaptive planning, timely resource reallocation, stakeholder partnerships, financial accountability, and organizational learning as critical practices for sustaining school operations and learning delivery during disruptions. The study concludes that strategic financial management constitutes a vital organizational capability for strengthening learning continuity resilience. Accordingly, it recommends adaptive and responsive budgeting mechanisms, strengthened stakeholder partnerships, streamlined emergency financial procedures, and the pilot implementation of the proposed Resilient Strategic School Resource Management Framework to enhance schools’ capacity to anticipate, respond to, and recover from educational disruptions.