Lawrence Camacho
Remarks delivered during the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee’s budget hearing on the Public School System’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 spending plan on Sept. 9, 2025.
BUENAS, Håfa Adai yan Tirow, Chairman Hofschneider and the esteemed body of our CNMI House of Senate!
I want to begin by thanking you for this opportunity to present the Fiscal Year 2026 Public School System Proposed Budget. I do this with both optimism and a spirit of cooperation as we prepare for the upcoming fiscal year.
First, I am pleased to report that our students are thriving — in all of our schools across the CNMI Public School System. We have highly qualified teachers, supported by a high-quality curriculum, built on the high standards set by the Board of Education and implemented through policy. The beneficiaries? Our students.
Our proficiency and graduation rates have risen. Nearly 90% of our schools have met or exceeded district goals. For example, while our district goal last year was about 58%, our students scored 62% in math, 65% in reading, and 71% in early literacy. This reflects a 17% gain in reading and a 7% increase in math. For this, we thank our educators and our students for their effort and dedication, and our counselors and administrators for providing the critical interventions that allowed even our most at-risk students to succeed.
It is also worth noting that all of our schools remain safe learning environments. On August 19, all 20 schools opened their doors because they passed inspection and received occupancy, fire, and sanitation permits. We are grateful to our central office staff, school administrators, and their teams for prioritizing safe, clean, and healthy campuses. Our students’ success is a direct result not only of their hard work, but also of the commitment and passion of our employees across the system.
The good news, and the many impactful programs across PSS, stem from your years of investment. Your support of public education has been an investment in the CNMI’s real treasure — our youth. Their growth and development prepare them for the future they deserve. On their behalf, I thank you.
But we must also be clear-eyed about the fiscal realities. The new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2025. This marks the start of the post-ARPA period. The pandemic and the decline in tourism devastated government revenues, limiting funds for critical services like education. For the past three years, ARPA funds helped mitigate these shortfalls, sparing PSS from severe cuts and preventing greater learning loss. In fact, ARPA investments strengthened capacity and helped lift proficiency. As you may know, our AP passing rate also increased significantly this year — evidence that the funds were wisely used. Building on this momentum, we are establishing a framework for college, career, and life readiness. For that, we thank our district program leads and teachers who continue to guide our students toward college and career readiness.
Now, with ARPA no longer available, PSS must fully rely on local appropriations. Our FY 2026 proposed budget is as follows:
• Personnel: $42,058,522 to support 972 FTEs — school administrators, staff, teachers, aides, instructors, librarians, counselors, program managers, and district-level support across 20 schools and 10 Head Start centers on three islands.
• All Others: $7,227,037 for school operations and local matching requirements for federal grants.
I want to emphasize again that PSS operations have been stabilized by ARPA funds during FY 2022, 2023, and 2024, preventing furloughs and work-hour reductions that would have compromised the mandated 180 instructional days.
The FY 2026 budget is guided by targeted objectives:
1) Student Learning — anchored in the continued support of personnel.
2) School Operations — ensuring uninterrupted services.
The personnel budget reflects a 3% increase from last year, largely due to certification and licensure adjustments for educators (teachers, instructors, librarians, and counselors), and includes funding for the Chamorro and Carolinian Language and Heritage Studies program, a constitutional mandate.
Instructional materials are protected by law — 1 CMC 7838 earmarks 1% of the PSS budget exclusively for this purpose.
We also propose $500,000 for capital improvement projects, focusing on emergency repairs and compliance with building, fire, sanitation, and occupancy codes. Day-to-day operations will fund safety and health needs across 20 campuses.
We have also included Fiscal Cliff Scenarios to outline possible strategies depending on appropriations. These are playbooks for survival, not preferences.
Let me be candid: FY 2026 will be difficult. Yet, we remain committed to ensuring that every dollar provides maximum value to our students. Though PSS is a large, complex system, we have consistently found strategic ways to cut costs without sacrificing quality. Examples include saving $1 million annually from solar panel installations at 19 campuses, adjusting the school calendar while still meeting the 180-day mandate, and reducing locally funded operations by 50% while leveraging federal grants for enrichment programs such as Advanced Placement. We have suspended off-island travel and prioritized bringing professional development to the CNMI. We continue to seek more efficiencies — always, however, without undermining student learning.
To put this into perspective: this legislature appropriated $33.4 million last year, and survival was possible only because $12 million in ARPA funds filled the gap. That safety net is gone. The proposed $31.7 million in the current bill falls far short — it will push us backwards. Let us be honest with ourselves: the math does not work. The cost of education has risen, but so has student achievement.
It is not our children’s fault that the economy is struggling. I am not here to assign blame. I am here to advocate. We must own the responsibility of prioritizing education. To do so requires at least $40 million — not $31.7 million. Anything less will jeopardize instructional days and undo years of progress.
I am, as we all should be, here to serve our people and to do everything we can to protect this institution. We are one government that faces an impeding storm headed out way. Think of this in practical terms. We are one government facing a storm. My job is to put up shutters before the storm hits. If we resource PSS adequately, all windows are protected. If we underfund at $31.7 million, some windows will remain bare — and the damage will cost us far more.
I urge you: do not de-invest in the Commonwealth’s future. Protect it by investing in education. Quality education is the foundation of a skilled workforce, critical thinkers, and problem solvers — the very people who will rebuild and lead our economy forward.
Once again, I thank you for your continued support. Everything we do is guided by this: Students First, Educators Always.
