Effectiveness of Public Education Expenditure on Human Capital Development in Public Secondary Schools in Soroti City

Public education expenditure develops human capital when resources reach schools and sustain effective teaching, equitable participation and measurable learning. This article examines that relationship in public secondary schools in Soroti City through a structured documentary review and descriptive analysis of published fiscal evidence. Official local government performance information is interpreted alongside Uganda's education statistics, national financing reviews and empirical education research. The analysis distinguishes budget execution from efficiency, educational effectiveness and causal impact. The city's reported secondary education expenditure for financial year 2024/25 was approximately UGX 7.712 billion against an original approved budget of UGX 7.123 billion, equivalent to 108.3% execution. This establishes a substantial financial commitment, but does not demonstrate an equivalent improvement in competencies, completion or future productivity. The reviewed literature identifies resource delivery, teaching quality, learner readiness, household costs and accountability as important conditions connecting expenditure to outcomes. Local reporting classifications and the absence of a matched school finance and learning panel constrain stronger attribution. The article proposes an expenditure-tolearning framework linking reconciled financial records, term-level service delivery, cohort retention and comparable competency assessment. Recommendations prioritise transparent school resource statements, subject-specific staffing analysis, instructional support, targeted retention measures and annual joint reviews of finance and learning. The central conclusion is that the available evidence supports the importance of public investment while leaving its school-level human capital effects in Soroti City insufficiently measured. Greater accountability should therefore combine fiscal discipline with a practical system for verifying what learners gain from expenditure.