The CNMI will get $48 million, of which $35 million is for the Public School System. The rest of the money will go to the Departments of Public Health and Public Safety, she added.
Education Commissioner Rita Sablan, who was among those who attended the White House meeting, said Biden spoke “very strongly” about the goals of the stimulus package.
“We must do this right,” Sablan quoted Biden as telling the nation’s education officials.
Last week, at least 40 education superintendents and commissioners from different states and insular areas met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan who discussed how the stimulus package will provide additional funding for education.
To ensure accountability and transparency, the education officials were told that the funds must be tracked separately by detailing description of uses, reporting quarterly on financial information and program results, estimating number of jobs created and retained, and requiring subcontracts and sub-grants to comply with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act.
The stimulus package should allow school districts to save and create jobs, ensure transparency and accountability and advance reforms, Duncan said.
The stimulus package, she added, should be an opportunity for innovation and reform in four areas — standard and assessments, data systems, teacher quality and school improvement.
Sablan said the stimulus package will help local schools improve student learning.
