PSS suspends hiring of regular classroom teachers

The CNMI Public School System has placed a moratorium on the hiring of regular classroom teachers because of the uncertainty of its budget, according to acting education commissioner Glenn Muña.

He told Saipan Tribune that the hiring freeze will remain in effect until the school system is allocated enough funds.

PSS, which has 19 campuses and over 10,000 students on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, was allocated just $30 million this fiscal year.

To ease the teacher shortage, Muña said that PSS will, for the meantime, hire short-term and long-term substitutes.

“We froze all our vacant FTEs [full time employees] for classroom teachers and we only hired substitutes who are being paid only when they work, or on a daily basis,” Muña said, believing the system will be able to save up on personnel costs this way.

Saipan Tribune tried yesterday to obtain the total number of teachers and substitutes currently teaching at PSS, but human resources director Coreen Palacios refused to disclose anything pending the approval of Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan, who is off-island but is expected to be back next week.

Muña said the lack of funding is hampering PSS’ recruitment efforts and that the decision to rely on substitutes for now will stay until enough monies are identified to hire regular teachers, who are usually given two-year contracts.

PSS pays highly qualified teachers a basic salary of $30,000, but this could go up to $47,000 depending on credentials and qualifications. This is on top of other benefits.

For substitutes, they are paid on a daily basis and get no benefits. Their term ranges from just weeks to a whole school year, depending on the need of the school. PSS pays substitutes with bachelor’s degrees $100 per day, while those with associate degrees get $60 a day.

A substitute is not required to be a highly qualified teacher but Muña said that many of their substitutes are highly qualified.

According to him, hiring substitutes allows PSS to work within its budget without jeopardizing student learning.

At Garapan Elementary School, three of the school’s 37 teachers are substitutes. At Hopwood Junior High School, seven of its 45 teachers are substitutes. At Kagman High School, two of the 26 teachers are substitutes. The numbers were provided by each school’s principal.