“It is not in the best interest of the [Public School System] to go through the [U.S. Department of the Interior],” said BOE Vice Chairman Herman Guerrero during their board meeting on Wednesday at the Pacific Islands Club.
Guerrero said PSS has been working with USDOE for years and stressed that the mandates of the $787 billion stimulus law regarding education-related grants should be followed.
Governor Benigno R. Fitial and his counterparts on Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier urged President Obama to let the Interior Department handle the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s State Fiscal Stabilization Fund which deals with education grants.
But PSS and similar school systems of the other territories separately wrote to the Obama administration and urged it to reject the request.
Guerrero, in his capacity as the acting BOE chairman, and Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan wrote a joint letter to the president.
They said PSS, which serves 10,913 students, will use the money to hire 109 teachers that cannot be met due to budget reductions.
They added that the stabilization fund will help them renovate schools, upgrade technology programs, among other projects.
“The March 4, 2009 governors’ request that would allow the secretary of the interior to take the lead on how the [stabilization fund] would be spent rather than the secretary of education is in contrast to § 14001 (a) and (d) of the ARRA. In the CNMI, theBoard of Education not the governor is constitutionally responsible for public education,” Guerrero and Sablan said.
“We respectfully request that the secretary of education retain the administration and oversight of the Education Stabilization Fund,” they added.
