The governor proposed $38.2 million for PSS.
This figure was based on an 18 percent employer’s contribution rate to the Retirement Fund, but the budget bill set the rate at 11 percent.
Guerrero said legislators computed the figures based on the wrong data.
“They’re pretty much misinformed,” he said. “If they will start taking away the federal funds, we won’t have much money left.”
He said he is disappointed with the lawmakers’ decision to provide less funding for the school children.
Guerrero has asked Commissioner of Education Rita A. Sablan to provide an analysis on the impact of the FY 2009 budget bill on PSS.
BOE, for its part, will ask Congressman-elect Gregorio Sablan to help PSS, Guerrero said.
He said CNMI lawmakers should understand that they cannot just “plan” the federal monies granted to PSS as these are strictly provided according to specific purposes.
Lawmakers, he added, “should not be mixing apples and oranges together — meaning, local and federal funds.”
Federal funds are for specific projects and specific expenditures, he added.
He said PSS is provided by the federal government less than $10 million for its nutrition program, $4 million for the special education program, and about $1.5 million for Head Start.
“Once they take away these federal monies …we’re only talking about the consolidated grant of $9 million and not $42.8 million,” Guerrero added.
He noted that $3 million of the consolidated grant is for private schools.
“Sad to say that they are poorly informed legislators and are continuously putting down education,” Guerrero said, adding that federal grants are not intended to replace local funding.
Many schools do not have enough funding for operation, and this year will be more challenging for them, he added.
