‘It’s CIP monies and not Compact Impact’

The Public School System admitted that it has $4 million from last year’s allocation, but reiterated that the fund came from the Capital Improvement Program.

Board chair Roman C. Benavente said he would like to clarify the mix-up and confusion between the two funding sources. He said the PSS never received such amount from last year’s Compact Impact Fund as reported last week.

“We never received that fund,” he said categorically.

But the board chair was firm that, contrary to what other government officials were saying, it’s not true that the current state of PSS finances is a self-created problem caused by PSS itself for not using the funds.

A government official commented recently, on condition of anonymity, that PSS still has $4 million in Compact Impact funding from last year’s allocation but due to the office’s slow action, the money has not been tapped.

“Whoever that government official is, he needs to set himself straight,” Benavente said. “He has to set his records straight.”

He explained that the amount the government official was referring to is from the 2004-2005 Capital Improvement Program funds for the PSS. Benavente said the $4 million has not yet been spent but has already been committed to the CNMI Head Start Program.

He earlier said that when the government gives money for education, the system makes it a point that it uses every penny the proper way.

The CIP funding will also be spent for the construction of additional classrooms at Kagman Elementary School. The BOE chair said the PSS Capital Improvement Program is in charge of the project.

He earlier blamed government “red tape” and “bureaucracy” as factors in the delay of the execution of the projects, as well as the continuing fluctuation of fuel prices. “We are still working with the amount that we have.”

On the matter of the $5.2 million Compact Impact funding that PSS is owed from the last four years, Benavente said PSS had forwarded a three-page proposal to the Office of the Insular Affairs last week. Benavente said PSS CIP officer Liz Balajadia is on top of the project.

Benavente added that the proposed projects for the use of the Compact Impact money would be monitored because the funds are direct and limited.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen earlier assured PSS that it would get the funding as promised.