PSS gets $9.7M federal grant

The cash-strapped Public School System received $9.7 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education last week.

The grant is expected to hold up intermediate operational expenses of PSS even as it awaits Senate approval of its proposed $50 million budget for the new fiscal year.

Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos said yesterday that part of the funding would go directly to the schools, with $3 million going to the 20 public schools under the innovative assistance grant program.

“Each school then decides how it will use the funds to purchase instructional materials and equipment that directly benefit the students of that school,” she said.

Inos said $3.1 million would be reserved for the salaries and benefits of the 66 classroom teachers who are paid out of this grant.

She said PSS would have preferred to have the teachers’ salaries come from the local budget, but since the PSS has not had a budget increase since 1998, this is not possible.

The PSS’ current budget is $5 million lower than it was in 1997 and 1998, yet in that time PSS has opened six new schools and added over 2,500 more students since then, with student enrollment reaching over 11,000 students in the current school year.

Inos said the passage of House Bill 14-371 in the Senate is critically important to the PSS and thanked every member of the House for their support of the bill, which provides a long overdue increase in the PSS’ budget.

Inos also said $1.4 million of the federal grant will be allocated directly to private schools for the acquisition of instructional materials and equipment. She added that $1 million is also earmarked for PRAXIS training and related teacher training activities.

Another $1 million will be reserved for assessments, including both the SAT10 and the multitude of standards-based assessments that PSS uses to measure student learning.

Inos said the remaining funds would be used for school improvement projects such as the Saturday Reading Program, student academic competitions such as the National Forensic League, and other programs that directly benefit both public and private school students and their teachers.

“The federal support that PSS receives from the U.S. Department of Education is absolutely essential to the effective operation of our schools,” Inos said.

The commissioner thanked the Education Department for its timely support for quality education for all the children enrolled in CNMI schools.