The local Public School System should receive approximately $8.3 million from the special appropriation.
The legislation will also provide the commonwealth with bridge funding for its Medicaid program to cover the gap between the end of Recovery Act increases this year and the beginning of health care reform increases next year.
“The Public School System will get about $8.3 million,” Sablan said. “And the money could not be coming at a better time: school is opening and PSS faces a $7 million reduction in local funding.
“There will also be about $768,000 in federal Medicaid funding for the CNMI,” he added.
“This is legislation that we in the Democratic Caucus have been working on for several months,” said Sablan.
“I was one of 21 original co-sponsors of H.R. 4812, the Local Jobs for America Act, which was introduced with this emergency school funding in March. But the other side has been blocking it every step of the way.”
House leaders decided to take action after two Senate Republicans broke ranks with the rest of their party and decided to vote to help schools and those who depend on Medicaid for health care. Sens. Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, both of Maine, voted to end debate on H.R. 1586 on Wednesday. The bill had been amended with the additional school and Medicaid money. The two then joined Democrats and Independents in the Senate to pass the measure, 61-38.
H.R. 1586 now returns to the House for final approval on Tuesday before being sent to President Obama for signature.
Sablan said he had considered returning to the capital, but because the bill will not be amended at this point in the legislative process he is not required to vote.
“The funding for the Northern Marianas is in the legislation and has been since we first introduced it in March. Nothing will change that.
“It is certainly a moment of accomplishment for our Democratic Caucus, particularly for Appropriations Chairman David Obey, who is retiring this year. It would be a feel-good opportunity, but, frankly, the work is done. The benefits for the Northern Marianas are secure.”
PSS is looking at a shortfall of approximately $7 million this year because of cuts in local funding.
PSS officials met with Sablan’s staff last week in Washington to discuss actions the school system would need to take without the additional federal funds.
PSS was faced with the choice between staff layoffs and reductions in school improvements that are being made with Recovery Act funds Congress appropriated last year.
“Our educational system will continue to face difficult choices in the years ahead,” Sablan said. “But at least this special appropriation will give the Board of Education, the PSS leadership, school principals and teachers a little more flexibility going forward.
“We simply must continue to do everything we can to protect our schools,” Sablan added.
“In urging the Senate to act President Obama said, ‘We know that economic prosperity and educational success go hand in hand.’
“I could not agree more. And what is true for our nation as a whole is certainly true for the Northern Marianas: our future well-being will depend on our investment in our human resources, on the quality of education we provide for our children.”
This special supplemental appropriation for education has been ping-ponging back and forth between the House and the Senate for several months. There is strong support from Democrats in the House,” Sablan said, “but Senate Republicans blocked the bill.
“This despite the fact that every penny of the $10 billion is offset by rescission of appropriations from the Recovery Act and elsewhere in the budget, so that there is no additional debt being incurred.
“The legislation is highly responsible, both from an educational point of view and from a fiscal point of view,” said Congressman Sablan.
Another $768,000 for Medicaid
In addition to the special appropriation for education, the bill also addresses a problem in federal Medicaid funding. There is a six-month funding drop in funding that the bill will fill with about $768,000 more in Medicaid for the CNMI.
“In the Recovery Act we provided a 30 percent increase for the Northern Marianas and other U.S. territories’ federal Medicaid grants,” explained Sablan.
The Recovery Act in its original form only included a 15 percent increase, but Sablan and other territorial representatives worked hard in the scramble to put the bill together, and succeeded at doubling the increase for their territories.
“But that increase, which was a temporary response to the recession and the loss of revenue state and territorial governments were facing, ends at the end of this year,” Sablan said.
“In the health care reform we passed in March, which is the more long-term policy response to our Medicaid needs, there is a series of increases in Medicaid funding starting July 1, 2011. So we have a six-month break between those two programs.
“H.R. 1586 will plug the gap, so that the Northern Marianas will not see any decrease in Medicaid between the time the Recovery Act ends and health care reform begins.
“We avoided the disruption and will also get another three-quarters of a million dollars for health care for low income families here in the commonwealth,” said Sablan.
The 30 percent Medicaid increase in the Recovery Act boosted the federal grant to the CNMI from $5.12 million in 2008 to about $6.65 million this year.
The Medicaid increases scheduled to begin in 2011 under health care reform will raise the allowable annual amount to approximately $21 million in 2019 — four times what the commonwealth was previously receiving.
Once the House acts on Tuesday, H.R. 1586 will go to President Obama for signature. President Obama has already voiced his full support. Distribution of funds is expected to proceed relatively quickly to help schools around the country, which are set to open over the next several weeks.
