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‘Sans $3M, PSS will be forced to cut personnel’
Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada, fourth from right, discusses the Public School System’s proposed $31.5-million budget for fiscal year 2024 during a hearing last Thursday before the House Ways and Means Committee. (FERDIE DE LA TORRE)
Without $3 million in their proposed budget for 2024, the Public School System will be forced to make deep cuts in its number of personnel, according to Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada on Thursday
In response to House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Ralph N. Yumul’s (Ind-Saipan) question during a hearing for PSS’ proposed 2024 budget, Ada said the American Rescue Plan Act fund has already been set and that, in order to make changes, they will have to communicate with their grant officers.
“Our grant officers are very tight [and] strict [against making] changes,” the commissioner said.
Yumul said they did notice that PSS’ proposed budget is $31.5 million and what was actually submitted by the Palacios administration is lower, at $28 million.
“We’re already short so how does PSS plan to make up for the whole? Does it need additional funding or from federal grants or additional funding from ARPA, to be used to backfill the shortage?” Yumul asked.
Ada said their request establishes the operating budget that will fund PSS’s required educational services, supplemented significantly by the last year of funding from ARPA and regular funding received from federal grants.
Consistent with prior years, he said, PSS has used its approved funding under the annual Appropriation and Authorization Act to fund its operating budget.
The commissioner said the budget request represents a 9%-increase over the approved fiscal year 2023 revised budget of $28 million.
He noted that every year PSS is entitled to 25% of general revenue resources under Article 15 Section 1 of the CNMI Constitution and affirmed by the CNMI Supreme Court.
“As the pandemic enters its fourth year, our priority remains with the students,” Ada said.
In order to meet its responsibilities, PSS acknowledges that the support of all stakeholders is essential, he said,
“We will continue to coordinate and collaborate with our stakeholders that we provide the necessary curriculum and instructional programs and improve public health measures at our schools and facilities,” Ada said.
