Education paydays

The recent scare created by headlines of schools closing needs to be put into proper prospective. I’m sure the jockeys of the various political parties have already mounted their horses and began their Paul Revere ride to spread the blame on the governor or Education officials but I was in the meeting when Board of Education made the decision to close schools and I attended the meeting on Jan. 7, 2004 between the governor and Education officials to see for myself exactly what was going on with the governor. Needless to say, I found the situation to be exactly what I expected. But I will give you (the people) the details and let you make up your own minds because I don’t want my explanation to be manipulated into the political arena with personal attacks on me. I also want teachers to be assured that I am looking out for their interest in the Public School System.

The funding problem had really been resolved two days before the issue hit the news. However, Education officials didn’t give the governor’s resolution full faith and credit because the governor has been late with funds before, which the governor admitted and he also understood the apprehension that might surface. However, the money was indeed transferred in accordance with the agreement made in the meeting prior to the news articles.

There are legal issues that face the board, which prompted the board to set in place the proper mechanism in the event the funds were not transferred and the board also didn’t have the luxury of waiting until the last minute. I viewed the announcement of the “schools closing” as more of a “safety net option” as opposed to an actual intent to close the schools. Teachers should also be advised that they do not have a contract and the closing of schools would not affect their pay but any delays or termination of payroll payments must be legally justified, which is why BOE took the necessary action to protect the system. Students would have been the only losers had the school closing taken place. But we (the people) should not be surprised at how the media played this up so big—it’s just the nature of the business.

But the governor was indeed prepared when we met with him and he was also a bit perturbed that certain top Education officials were not there to discuss such a serious issue. The governor and his Finance secretary explained to us his plan for funding PSS and he also assured us of continuous on-time funding. He said, “You all know my heart is with education but I also have Public Health, DPS and other agencies that need to be funded but I will close down a department of the government before I allow the schools to close.”

The governor also explained the government’s problem with “cash flow” which can easily be verified by any citizen. Most interesting was the proof offered by Education officials that actually supported the governor’s difficult position with cash flow in the news on Jan. 7, 2005 that clearly stated “the cash-strapped government’s collections this month (January 05) only amounted to a pitiful $230,000, barely a fraction of the more than $6 million needed to pay its over 5,000 employees this pay period.” Any governor must “juggle” funds under these conditions and the “education ball” just happened to come up last but the governor did instruct his Finance secretary “to place PSS at the top of the priority list from now on.”

The BOE officials did what they had to do in order to protect the legal integrity of the system and their obligation to teachers and staff. I was there and I understand their apprehension but at the same time I understand the governor’s position of making sure ALL government employees are paid. Personally, I believe the governor will deliver for education as he has clearly demonstrated that he is an “Education Governor.” I know that no one can contest the fact that he has done more to help teachers and the education system than any of the previous governors since my arrival over 15 years ago. So if anyone wants to place blame, I hope you will place it on a “cash-strapped government” with a slow trickling cash flow and not on the Education officials or the governor.

It is events like these that should serve as a wake up call to the community and leaders that we need to fully develop our economy because we presently have an economy that is in the developing stage. Having only two industries is considered a “developing economy” and it is also very risky business that can be very detrimental to everyone should one industry decline or fail, as we have already witnessed and may very well see again soon with the garment industry. It’s the poor “cash flow” that is causing the juggling and funding problems, with education our biggest consumer of government money and not people. I felt obligated to write this letter and I hope it will help ease some of the tension in our community and to clarify what actually took place. I hope it will also educate the people and our leaders as to what really needs to be done to fix this problem for all time—more industries to bring in more money. We need to be concerned about the big picture, not just education.

As an aside, we should delete Commonwealth Day since we are not using it for inaugurations. Commonwealth Day is also not as important as Covenant Day because the Covenant is actually what created the Commonwealth. The inauguration date of our first officials is important but the date and event we are celebrating on Commonwealth Day is secondary to the date of the Covenant signing. Commonwealth Day and Dr. King’s birthday are in the same month of January, making Commonwealth Day the most logical day to delete and replace with MLK Day if the people of the CNMI truly appreciate what Dr. King did for them. We must also consider the fact that everyone in assured there are far fewer people in the CNMI that even know when and what Commonwealth Day is even all about. If you ask every person on Capital Hill how they feel about MLK Day, they support its being declared a holiday. Sacrificing one of the local holidays would indeed be a very noble gesture and I believe it is the right thing to do. One people, one direction.

Ambrose M. Bennett
BOE Teacher Rep.