The gathering was held at the Pacific Islands Club and drew the attendance of officials from PSS and BOE, school principals other educators and lawmakers from both houses of the Legislature.
In an interview, Sablan said PSS is keeping the theme “Students First” this school-year to ensure that student learning is given emphasis despite the cash-strapped government’s difficulty to provide for the growing number of students in the 20 public schools throughout Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
This school-year 2009-2010 PSS serves more than 10,300 students but the enrollment rate is expected to jump when classes reopens in Sept. amid the worsening recession here and in the U.S.
The student enrollment rate is broken into 14 ethnic groups and two subgroups from Pacific island-nations.
Sablan said the federal government’s financial assistant to PSS eases their burden in educating the schoolchildren.
But there are still certain things that the Legislature can do to ensure that students get the proper assistance they need to become educated and productive citizens of the commonwealth.
This fiscal year 2009, PSS operates within a $35 million budget ceiling — the lowest since 1998.
“Although we feel the pinch of the revenue shortfall in the commonwealth, I am grateful that the faculty and staff of our schools are dedicated and committed as ever to our children,” said Sablan.
“And I must say, on behalf of our children, teachers, school administrators, and families — thank you — to all of you and former members of the House and the Senate for various public laws that enabled the CNMI Public School System on Tinian, Rota and Saipan to improve our school facilities and campuses,” she added.
Some lawmakers have used portions of their miscellaneous funds to help public schools repair their roofs, parking lots, outdoor stage, additional classrooms, among other related projects.
This year, Sablan said the emphasis will be in academic excellence and lawmakers can help by supporting PSS projects promoting learning.
Although public school students in some grade levels are still not at par with their counterparts from the U.S. in terms of reading, writing and math, they have shown steady growth in their standardized exams.
“At the end of last school year, our student performance in reading reflected 71 percent of our students in grade 3 reading at the proficient and advanced levels,” Sablan said.
“Our student performance on the norm reference test is at the 40th percentile rank or higher in the benchmark grades which are tested at grades 3, 5, 6, 9 and 11. Grade 8 is at the 37th percentile rank with a marked improvement from 19th percentile rank in 2003 to last school year,” she added.
