Last week, the BOE voted 2 to 3 to reject a similar proposal.
“There was a miscommunication with the last vote when we voted no,” BOE member Phillip Mendiola-Long said. “We disagreed with the…piecemeal approach on how to cut because you are messing with the emotions of the staff and teachers.”
MaryLou Ada and Andrew Orsini were the other BOE members who voted no to the proposed pay cut last week.
PSS management said the school system would run out of funds if the measure was not approved.
Under the new policy approved on Wednesday, “every Friday is off and there will be no additional hours or minutes added to school days,” Mendiola-Long said.
He added that the school schedule from Monday to Thursday will still be 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for elementary schools; and 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for secondary schools.
For the sake of equity, BOE Chairwoman Janice Tenorio said the board will reinstate the certification and licensure salary adjustment, which has been frozen since January 2019.
The Board of Education unanimously approved a 16-hour work reduction for Public School System personnel on Wednesday. Photo by Lori Lyn C. Lirio
PSS human resources director Lucretia Borja said this will benefit 284 teachers and staff members.
“What we are going to do is give them the adjustment. It will increase their salary and then we will apply the 20% cut,” Tenorio said.
PSS employees will maintain their current hourly rates, but they will be paid 64 hours instead of 80.
The school system’s biweekly personnel cost is $1.3 million. With the approval of the 20% cut, personnel cost will be reduced to $1.04 million.
PSS’ original budget for fiscal year 2020 was $37.7 million. Due to the economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, the central government implemented an across-the-board budget cut, reducing the PSS budget to $27 million.
Of this amount, Tenorio said PSS’ remaining allotments from the central government total $15.2 million.
Mendiola-Long said the cut that the board approved was just the beginning. “They only cut a little and we are still ending with a $2 million deficit and zero dollars for operations. So that means that you are going to come back and do a further cut,” he said.
Last week, Mendiola-Long, Ada, and Orsini also voted to file an injunction that will ask the CNMI Supreme Court to enforce its ruling in the certified question regarding PSS’ 25% mandated share of annual government revenue
“We are working on completely different set of math,” Mendiola-Long said. “The administration has their own opinion, and we have our own opinion. Depending on who wins, the calculation will determine whether there will be further cuts for the teachers.”
Not new
The four-day week schedule is not a new policy, according to Hopwood Middle School Principal Dr. Rizalina Liwag.
She told the board that approximately 560 school districts in the United States are also implementing a four-day school week.
“The largest school districts that implement the four-day school week are in Colorado, Montana, Oregon, and Oklahoma,” she said.
Citing various research studies, Liwag said a four-day school week can eliminate workforce reduction, reduce personnel cost, reduce operation cost, reduce the number of discipline referrals, and improve teachers and students attendance.
“Research has also shown that the four-day week schedule has no effect on student performance,” she added.
Moreover, sports schedules and after-school programs are easier to manage, and professional development for staff members can be conducted on Friday, Liwag said.
The downside of a shorter class schedule, she added, includes loss of 3,300-3,600 instructional minutes from 11 austerity Fridays; families will need child care; an increase in juvenile crime; food insecurity; and impact on the economy.
But the associate commissioner for student support services, Dr. Yvonne Pangelinan, said schools may offer programs to students on austerity Fridays.
She said participating certified staff can earn $100 per day while non-certified staff will receive $60 a day for federally funded programs.
