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Ada: PSS budget proposal will be submitted today
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Posted on Mar 26 2021
Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada said the Public Education System’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 is in the process of being finalized and should be submitted to Legislature by the deadline today.
In a phone interview, Ada said that the PSS is looking to receive the same amount of local funds, which is $24,117,582, and federal funds of $34,700,000, with the total amount covering what PSS needs to be able to sustain their teachers and staff.
PSS is budgeting for 772 locally funded employees and 229 federally funded employees.
According to Accreditation Program coordinator Marian Tudela in last week’s Board of Education meeting, personnel costs comprise the largest expenditure category in the general fund budget. In fiscal year 2022, PSS expects to spend $41 million in salaries and benefit costs, which is 71%of the total general fund budget.
Currently PSS has 58 Title 1 teachers and they are accepting retirees to come in and work half day.
“Once 3-foot distancing is allowed, we’ll be able to bring in 15 more students in the classroom. That’s a total of 25 students per classroom,” said Ada.
Ada added that distance education has helped mitigate the loss of 18 PSS teachers.
