BOE Vice Chairman Herman T. Guerrero yesterday said the meeting was requested by federal officials and will include education representatives of Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Joining Sablan and Blanco-Maratita are BOE member Marylou Ada and Public School System federal programs officer Tim Thornburgh.
The group is expected to be back on island next week.
“Since [the] Title V [funds] have not been funded by U.S. Congress, USDOE wants all insular areas to be ready and prepared in the absence of this specific federal assistance,” Guerrero told Variety.
CNMI is among the insular areas that receive Title V assistance under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Guerrero said USDOE is anticipating the discontinuance of the assistance pending congressional appropriation.
“USDOE has called the insular areas to discuss this issue because most likely the U.S. Congress would not fund Title V,” he added.
“They’re looking at options on where we can consolidate,” he said.
Consolidating the funds from Titles I and VI of the NCLB may supplement the absence of Title V funds, but Guerrero said this will require the CNMI to comply with “too many requirements.”
Due to the current situation of local education appropriation, Guerrero expects PSS to continue to face more challenges.
“It’s going to be a challenge for all schools. We need to figure out how we can survive in 2009 with the limited budget we got for education,” he said.
For FY 2009, PSS has recorded receiving $25.5 million in federal monies of which the consolidated grant amounted to $9.2 million.
