Students getting less from gov’t

Treading on a $36 million funding capacity under a continuing resolution, the general cost of sending one child to a public school shrunk by 4 percent versus the amount it took to subsidize a student’s education in Fiscal Year 2000.

This was revealed in the five-year local budget history of the Public School System.

With a total of 10,004 students currently enrolled in CNMI public schools, PSS can only shell out some $3,602 per student, $150 less than $3,752 revenue per child in 2000.

US mainland public schools offer individual public school students almost twice the amount apportioned to local students at an average of more $6,000 per year.

The US revenue per child increases by several points annually by as much as $6,315 for Fiscal Year 2001 alone.

According to PSS statistics, the growth in student population coupled with insufficient funding has gradually reduced the students’ share in the PSS pie.

PSS figures further show an uneven proportion in the growth of student-teacher ratio in local schools.

For the current year, records show that students grossly outnumber teachers 22.74 to one against the US mainland trend of 16.3 students to one teacher.

While overcrowding in classrooms ease annually in US public schools, the local trend manifests the opposite.

In Fiscal Year 1997, student-teacher ratio in PSS was pegged at 21.28 is to one while US mainland schools hosted as much as 17-1 students per teacher.

In CNMI private schools, four is to one is the ideal student-teacher ratio.

But according to a report card released by the school system last year, student-teacher ratio is at an average of 18 is to one.

Out of 482 classrooms across Saipan, Rota, and Tinian public schools, student-classroom ratio is at an average of 19 is to one for the current school year.

By ethnicity, majority of students comprise the Chamorros increasing this year by 4.13 percent from last year’s 3,611 total.

Chamorro/others come in second at a total of 1,560 while Carolinian students increased in the current year by 4.81 percent.

Based on recent figures, there’s a total of 306 grade school teachers in the school system and a significant portion of them teach in the first and second grades.

In the entire Northern Marianas, public and private schools combined host some 12,819 students all in all.