Influence of Financing on Sustainability of Public Secondary Schools in Kilifi County, Kenya

Abstract Financial sustainability is a critical component of any organizational success including public secondary schools in Kenya. It is therefore very essential and as a result necessitates for financial management practices to be introduced for it to be attained. This study therefore aimed at establishing the influences of financial management practices on sustainability of public secondary schools in Kilifi County, Kenya. The objective was to establish the influence of Financing and school governance structures as the moderating variable. This study was anchored on Resource Dependency theory, Budget theory, Fund accounting theory, and Keynesian theory of money. It adopted the descriptive survey design. The target population was 145 public secondary schools within Kilifi County of the coastal region. Sample size was realized through Taro Yamane formula which yielded a sample size of 102. Simple random sampling was done to get the 102 respondents. Respondents were drawn from 102 Chairpersons and Treasurers of Boards of Management of the proposed schools. Data was captured using questionnaires. Pilot testing was done to test for reliability and validity of the instrument. Diagnostic tests such as linearity test, normality test, multicollinearity test, homoscedasticity test and auto-correlation test will be done. Data collected was analysed by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics through the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 26. The findings revealed that financial management practices significantly influence sustainability of public secondary schools in Kilifi County, Kenya. Financing stood out as strong predictor of sustainability while school governance structure was found to strengthen the relationship between financial management dimensions and Sustainability. The study concludes that improving on financial management practices and school governance structure is important for ensuring that sustainability of public secondary schools is achieved in Kenya Key Words: Financing, Sustainability and School Governance Structures