By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

EDUCATION Commissioner David M. Borja and Board of Education Chairman Roman C. Benavente said that public schools will open in August once House Bills 15-242 and 15-255 become law.
The measures, which were passed by the Senate recently, will restore to PSS its $6 million budget cut for fiscal year 2007.
“I am asking the governor to sign either or both bills into law,” Borja said in a statement. “If neither bill is signed into law, 970 PSS staff will be laid off for…August and September,” he said.
The PSS budget, he explained, “was cut by $3 million early this year (the net of a $1 million increase and a $4 million utility expense) and PSS has managed to absorb this cut through greatly reduced funding to the schools.”
Borja said the PSS budget is $5 million lower than it was in 1997 and 1998, yet they have opened six new schools and added over 2,800 more students since 1997 and now have a student enrollment of over 11,600 students.
“We’re very happy about the bills’ passage and we believe that they will help PSS,” Benavente told Variety.
“Our priority is student learning…and we’re still headed in that direction, providing our students, despite financial difficulties, with the high-quality education they deserve.”.