THE Public School System’s comprehensive American Rescue Plan spending plan is was one of the first to be received and approved by the U.S. Department of Education, PSS Federal Programs Officer Tim Thornburgh said.
USDOE, he added, recommended that school districts in all the other territories “model” PSS’ approach.
Thornburgh and Commissioner of Education Dr. Alfred B. Ada were in Washington, D.C. recently to attend the legislative conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers which was held on March 27-29.
Thornburgh said the conference discussed, among other things, the post-Covid-19 pandemic plans of the nation’s public schools and school districts.
“We received one of the biggest validation of our work during the conference,” Thornburgh said. “Essentially, Commissioner Ada and I had the chance to meet with our key [USDOE] funders, including Dr. Tiffany Forrester who is in charge of insular area grants. Essentially, they commended us first of all for being one of the first grantees to have an approved ARPA spending plan and for the comprehensive nature of our plan,” Thornburgh said.
Of the $850 million in 2021 American Rescue Plan funds for Outlying Areas’ State Educational Agencies, PSS received about $160 million.
Under the PSS plan, these funds support the safe reopening and operations of schools while meeting the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of students amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
PSS was “number 24 among the 50 states and number 1 among the territories to submit timely” its 2021 ARPA spending plan and it was “one of the most comprehensive” plans received by USDOE, Thornburgh said quoting the federal officials.
PSS submitted its spending plan in August 2021 and it was approved by USDOE by the end of the same month.
“As for our quarterly federal funds report to the auditing team of USDOE…they reviewed and cross-checked it and they are pleased with our progress,” Thornburgh said.
Of the $160 million PSS received from the federal government, Thornburgh said $70 million will be spent in the next four years “to backfill the hole of our local budget.” This will allow PSS to pay for the salaries of teachers and staff that were previously locally funded.
Some $75 million of the federal funds will be spent on programs and projects, including laptops and technology acquisition, purchase of buses and vans as well as health and sanitation in all public schools.
The 13 private schools in the CNMI will be supported by $10 million of the ARPA funds. Private schools have their own spending plans.
Commissioner of Education Alfred B. Ada, center, and his Guam counterpart, Jon J.P. Fernandez, left, with Public School System Federal Programs Officer Tim Thornburgh, right, at the legislative conference of the Council of Chief State School Officers held on March 27-29, 2022 in Washington, D.C.
