BOARD of Education Chairman Herman Guerrero says the governor’s proposal to introduce charter schools in the CNMI needs more study because of its possible impact to the scarce resources of the Public School System.
Guerrero said the board has no collective stand yet on the issue. But this early, some of them are raising concerns about its effect on the education budget meant for students enrolled in public schools.
“The issue here is if they become charter schools and recognized by PSS, we have certain financial obligation to them. We don’t have the money in the first place, so where are we going to get the money…unless they are banking on using federal funds,” the chairman said.
He said the proposal should be carefully weighed down to avoid adverse effects on students relying on the government for their elementary and secondary education.
“We just need to be very cautious about this one especially since it’s a nonprofit organization. There’s a lot of issues that need to be discussed about this,” Guerrero said.
Under the proposed charter school program, private schools will remain independent but PSS must recognize them to allow them to seek financial aid from the federal government through grants.
During school-year 2001-2002, more than 10,000 students took their elementary and secondary education from various public schools. Over 2,000 were enrolled in private schools during the same period.
