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PSS aims for a higher budget in 2000
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Posted on Mar 02 1999
The Public School System will submit a budget proposal for year 2000 that will allow schools to fill in teaching vacancies, purchase books, and operational cost for DanDan, Kagman and Sinapalu schools.
This entire budget package is estimated to go over $40 million and will register a huge deficit from what the Office of Management and Budget had earlier instructed PSS to stay within the $37.7 million appropriation for next year.
In a motion approved by the Fiscal and Budget committee, members of the Board of Education asked Commissioner of Education Dr. Rita H. Inos to revise the PSS budget prepared by acting Fiscal and Budget Officer William Matson and reflect the additional cost on personnel, books and to operate the new schools.
The same committee also directed PSS officials not to include the mandated WGI (within grade increase) even for budgeting purposes only. According to the BOE policy, WGI is scheduled every year but no increases were made since last year.
A special BOE meeting is set on Wednesday to approve next year’s budget.
Before the committee called for the budget revision, Matson prepared a budget that stayed within the $37.7 million but ventured to ask for an additional $2 million to operate the new schools in Kagman and Sinapalu.
But even with the additional $2 million, he estimated a $1 million deficit in personnel alone for all of the existing schools. While its central office will continue to freeze hiring to subsidize expenses to be incurred at the school level.
“The way the board wants to see it, theoretically, there will be a much larger deficit because we will going to ask for the vacancies at the schools, for books and library expenses,” he said in an interview.
According to Matson, the $42 million figure which member Anthony Pellegrino had estimated for year 2000 will not be sufficient, adding “that will be too low.”
To reflect the revisions enumerated by the committee, PSS has postponed its budget submission until Wednesday.
