BOE asks Sablan about reason for Compact Impact cut

The Board of Education has asked CNMI Delegate Gregorio “Kilili” Sablan for the reasoning behind the expected dramatic cut in the CNMI’s share of the Compact Impact money next fiscal year.

In an e-mail to Sablan, board vice chair Herman T. Guerrero asked the CNMI delegate for the rationale behind the idea, as proposed to the U.S. Congress by President Barack Obama.

The Public School System has been a major beneficiary of the Compact Impact funds for major repairs and renovations. It actually received in full $5 million-plus allocated by the federal government during previous administrations.

In the past couple of years, the Fitial administration divided Compact Impact funds among critical departments that included the hospital, schools, police, prison, and the Marianas Visitor’s Authority. However, PSS always got the biggest share of the pie, amounting to $2 million in the last two years.

This fiscal year, the $2 million Compact Impact fund was folded into the $34.6 million local appropriation provided to the system.

“We need to know what’s the rationale behind this proposal … because this will impact PSS,” Guerrero told the board during its Thursday meeting.

The U.S. President’s FY 2010 budget proposal reduces the Compact Impact money for the CNMI from $5.1 million to $1.9 million next fiscal year due to the 41-percent drop in the number of Freely Associated States citizens who migrated to the CNMI, based on the latest U.S. Census.

Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan emphasized during board deliberation that the system noted no significant decrease in the number of Federated States of Micronesia students in public schools.

“Based on our SY Report for 2008-2009, there is no significant decrease in the number of students we have from FSM and Micronesian islands,” she reported.

Sablan expressed concern over the impact the cut would have on the school’s budget in FY 2010.

Saipan Tribune earlier reported that for the past 22 years, the CNMI’s share in the Compact Impact money has been getting smaller, from $400,000 in 1993 to 1994 until it went up to $1.6 million in 1995 and then dropping to $1 million in 2001.

In 2002, CNMI received $2 million; $840,000 in 2003; and then jumped to $5.1 million in 2004 through 2008.

Guerrero said the board will seek the CNMI delegate’s assistance in lobbying against the proposal to reduce the Commonwealth’s share of the Compact Impact money.