PSS stakeholders march to press for funding

Concerned educators and community members held a peaceful demonstration and march from the Oleai pavilions to the Minachom Atdao last Tuesday, followed shortly by a townhall meeting with elected leaders and education officials to press for funding issues related to public education.

The march was organized by CNMI-Ed, a group of concerned educators. According to CNMI-Ed representative Alex Borja, CNMI-Ed has 146 members, mostly PSS employees.

He said the group’s members have a lot of shared concerns, particularly about the Public School System being underfunded, and are trying to get informed on the issues and stay focused on solutions.

He said the group hopes that the peaceful march will not be the only one as CNMI-Ed strives to let the public know about the issues that PSS is undergoing.

The townhall meeting was later attended by Board of Education members MaryLou Ada and Andrew Orsini, Education Commissioner Glenn Muña, BOE teacher representative Paul Miura, BOE private school representative Dr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Ind-Saipan), Rep. Tina Sablan (Ind-Saipan), and Rep. Sheila Babauta (Ind-Saipan) who each talked about the concerns raised by participants. Rep. Luis John Castro (R-Saipan) and Rep. Ralph Yumul (R-Saipan) were also in attendance, but were not part of the panel.

Concerns about the fiscal year 2020 budget and the repair of schools were discussed, with Muña saying that PSS has received the final funding needed to close off fiscal year 2019.

In fiscal year 2020, PSS will be receiving $37.7 million, which Muña said is short of the bare minimum needed to run PSS. That means it will be difficult for the BOE to lift the current austerity measures at PSS.

The bare minimum needed to run PSS for one school year is $42 million, Muña said.

He said that, with the current budget, $33 million will be used up for salaries, $1 million is required for matching with federal grants and programs, and the remaining funds will go to operations and other expenses such as utilities.

When asked about further salary cuts to be implemented in fiscal year 2020, Muña said that it will be the decision of the BOE as he wants to avoid any commitments regarding these concerns as he will not be education commissioner for long. Muña’s last day in office will be on Nov. 12.

Propst said that the House minority bloc had discussed with other members of the Legislature to find ways to provide PSS the bare minimum to operate, but have been unable to reach an agreement.