The CNMI Constitution mandates that at least 20 percent of the total local revenue must go to PSS, and this means that it will get $28 million in FY 2012, which starts on Oct. 1.
PSS, which currently gets $31 million, said it needs $36 million in FY 2012 when it has to “transition away” from the federal funds provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Education Jobs Act.
Yesterday, PSS and Board of Education officials met with members of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ramon S. Basa, Covenant-Saipan, to discuss the school system’s funding needs.
PSS runs 20 campuses and 10 Head Start centers on Saipan, Tinian and Rota, and pays for their utilities, Retirement Fund and Medicare contributions, personnel payroll and free transportation to students.
Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan said in the new school year that starts in September, student enrollment is expected to increase between 3 and 5 percent.
“Whatever the final decision you are going to make, we know it is going to be painful and we are sure we will be affected… do not leave us behind too much — help us,” said BOE member Herman T. Guerrero, the chairman of the board’s Fiscal, Personnel and Administration Committee.
According to Sablan, “Our financial team is working on a contingency plan. We have to prepare for the worst.”
For the past two fiscal years, the school system’s funding situation was “fluid and unstable,” and yet PSS and BOE said they managed to close the severe budget gaps created by the decline in the annual appropriation from the CNMI government.
In FY 2008, PSS received $35 million which was reduced to $32 million in 2009.
In FY’s 2010 and 2011, the local budget for PSS was pegged at $31 million.
PSS said federal funds helped a lot.
“We used them to pick up the balance, particularly the cost of salaries of our teachers and teacher aides, essentially maintaining their employment,” said Tim Thornburgh, PSS federal programs officer.
Financial consultant Ed Tenorio said PSS leveraged its federal grants to address the shortage in its local budget.
“Now all these funds will be gone and so we have prepared ourselves to mitigate this impact. The continued decrease in revenue for FY 2012 forces us to use the $4 million reserve for the next fiscal year,” Tenorio added.
Of the $36 million PSS requested for FY 2012, $31.724 million is for personnel; $1.575 million, operations and $2.7 million, utility payments.
PSS said it wants to save positions critical to classroom learning that were not locally funded.
“The necessity of maintaining the 91 positions [that were federally] funded…is clear: Those affected employees all perform essential instructional services directly in our schools. As such, the funding of the 91 positions must be and is included in the FY 2012 budget,” PSS and BOE told Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.
PSS and BOE noted that public school students continue to perform above the U.S. average, according to the recent results of the Stanford Achievement Test, 10th Edition.
Last June, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics disclosed that the “per child average expenditure” of the CNMI was the second lowest in the entire nation.
The CNMI spends $5,753 for each student. The amount is slightly higher than American Samoa’s $4,962 for each student.
The U.S. Virgin Islands spends $15,386 for each student, followed by the U.S. mainland, $10,591; Guam, $8,291; and Puerto Rico, $6,949.
Lawmakers said they will try protect the funding for public education.
“I just want to make sure that PSS is sufficiently funded to operate this coming fiscal year. I know and we have noted a reduction in the budget recommendation (from the executive branch), but I wanted to make sure that I am here to advocate for our school system,” said Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan.
PSS “must be given full support,” Sen. Ralph DLG. Torres, R-Saipan, said.
Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee Chairwoman Jovita M. Taimanao, Ind.-Rota, said they will “do our best to support funding for our education.”
Sen. Juan M. Ayuyu, Ind.-Rota, said the school system’s needs are “critical and real” and must be supported.
Senate Vice President Jude U. Hofschneider, R-Tinian, said: “This is a good thing that we have to put our heads together to carry out our responsibilities in helping our schools.”
