Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan said their local budget amounts to about $35 million. Of this, $28.4 million goes to the salaries of personnel; $3 million for operations; and $3 million for utilities of all the 20 public schools, including the Head Start centers.
She said this is the lowest PSS budget over a decade and without the infusion of the stimulus funds, public schools will face difficulties.
Under the stimulus law, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $53.6 billion is allocated for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund which is designed to shore up state or territorial budgets.
By law, 81.8 percent of any state allocation should be spent on education and the rest are discretionary funds administered by the governor.
The stabilization fund allocation is computed based on the state’s population.
The CNMI, whose population is estimated to be more than 60,000, stands to get $48.788 million.
Of the amount, $40 million will be provided to PSS and Northern Marianas College while the remaining $8 million will go to the general fund and prevent the planned furloughs in the executive branch.
PSS will get the lion share —$35.9 million — because the grant is based on student population.
Of this amount, $13 million will go to the salaries of the additional 109 teachers that will be hired and payment for utilities; $13 million for school repair and maintenance programs; and $9.8 million for academic programs.
Sablan said the U.S. Department of Education will distribute the first batch of the stabilization funds soon and the remaining balance will come between July and September in time for the opening of school year 2009-2010.
PSS is also entitled to get $20.8 million in tax credit bond from the federal government.
According to Sablan, this will allow PSS to issue a bond for school construction that will be paid by the federal government.
“In essence, this results in an interest-free loan with a federal guarantee. The CNMI share, according to the Congressional Research Service is $20.8 million,” she said. “Funds can be used to build new schools, additional classrooms, purchase land for schools and for school repairs.”
