By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

VICE Speaker Justo S. Quitugua says the Board of Education should temporarily suspend the merit and step increases to qualified Public School System teachers until funds are available.
The Board of Education, he said, is considering a reduction in the number of children to be served by the Head Start program due to funding problems.
Effective this school year, highly qualified teachers receiving the maximum $47,000 salary in accordance with the new PSS compensation scheme were provided a one-time lump sum differential that amounted to $2,300.
These are teachers with masters degrees, 10 or more years of experience, who have professional certification and have passed the Praxis tests.
The board has also approved a $3,000 bonus for highly qualified teachers who accept two-year teaching assignments for hard-to-fill positions on Rota and Tinian.
“In this time of budget reductions,” Quitugua said, “PSS must not make any salary adjustments or pay increases. The merit and step increases can be stopped temporarily and the funds used for students instead.”
BOE Chairman Roman C. Benavente said they will discuss a proposed reduction of students served by the Head Start program which requires local matching funds of over $1 million a year.
The CNMI accommodates 571 students from 3 to 5 years old from low-income families.
According to Benavente, “we find it difficult to identify local matching funds with the figures that we have for our budget now.”
He said even if PSS temporarily suspends the salary bonuses, “it will not totally address the issue.”
PSS has a $38.6 million budget this fiscal year.
“But if you look at the figures, PSS has a shortfall of $4 million because the schools have to pay utilities — that’s $4 million,” Benavente said.
He said PSS is also anticipating budget cuts due to the government’s dwindling revenue collections.
“A supplemental budget can save these (Head Start) children. Without it, 170 kids will be staying out of school,” Benavente said.