PSS receives $1.7M to end FY19

The Public School System has confirmed that it has received the remaining $1.7 million owed by the CNMI government last Monday. Education Commissioner Glenn Muña confirmed yesterday that PSS received the remittance of the remaining $1.7 million owed from the Department of Finance in order to close out fiscal year 2019.

Muña said that PSS is expected to receive $37.7 million for its FY 2020 budget. He noted that they previously sent separate proposals to the Legislature; with the first part of the proposal requesting to increase the overall FY 2020 PSS budget to roughly about $53 million, which will be used to support operations to do repairs to damage schools and support the certification of PSS staff, and a second proposal requesting for about $73 million to complete all the repairs needed to all the damaged schools from Super Typhoon Yutu and remove PSS from its current financial burdens.

He said that in the PSS presentation to the House of Representatives, they were asked of what is the sufficient minimum in order for PSS to operate safely, and Muña recommended that the bare minimum would be about $42 million.

Muña and his team are currently working on a spending plan for PSS and that they have received numerous concerns regarding the date when PSS can start using its funds with the start of the new fiscal year. He said that they cannot start spending as PSS has not received any funding for FY20 from the Department of Finance and that they will begin spending once the funds are remitted to PSS next week.

“We are going to continue to advocate for our students and our staff, who make providing the education services possible,” Muña said.

In a previous Saipan Tribune report, Finance Secretary David Atalig explained that the central government owes PSS $7.78 million, in which the central government would pay the Group Health and Life Insurance premiums of PSS amounting $2.9 million, and Chapters 2 and 7 taxes for PSS totaling $2.15 million. With these deductions, PSS was left with roughly $1.7 million owed by the central government.

PSS was supposed to receive $42 million in FY19. However, due to austerity measures, their budget was slashed several times until it was less than the 25% mandate, with the government prioritizing recovery efforts from Super Typhoon Yutu, after both Saipan and Tinian were devastated in late October 2018.