Stimulus money can be used to restore teachers’ positions

The CNMI Public School System will use portion of the stimulus money it will get from the federal government to restore several teacher positions, according to the Board of Education.

BOE chair Lucy Blanco-Maratita said the federal law cites five areas where the stimulus money may be spent: to improve data collection, assessment, restoration of teacher posts, school modernization, and facility maintenance.

Blanco-Maratita said that CNMI public schools stand to get 81.8 percent of the $48 million allotted for the CNMI under the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The rest, Blanco-Maratita said, will go to the other CNMI projects.

She was elated upon determining that public schools can use the money to hire teachers, a concern that hasn’t been fully addressed by local appropriation.

Under the continuing budget resolution, PSS is allocated only $35 million, of which $32 million is for personnel cost.

Due to limited funding every year, majority of schools have oversized classes and not enough teachers.

Current student to teacher ratio in many of the schools is 28:1.

The system has been barred from hiring additional employees because of budget constraints for many years.

Even replacement positions are sometimes not filled due to the same problem.

“With the stimulus fund, that concern would soon be addressed,” Blanco-Maratita said.

PSS has over 500 teachers and more than 11,000 students from Kindergarten to 12th grade. It has 20 public schools majority of which lack manpower.

She said Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan is scheduled to complete the PSS packet grant application this week.

“The application for PSS is ready and would soon be submitted to the governor to be included in the other [packet] applications,” she told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

During Thursday’s press conference, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said the CNMI can get up to $100 million in noncompetitive grants but must compete with other states to get an additional $338.5 million.

He said the funding provided for NMI education will enable the system to build additional facilities and continue maintenance and rehabilitation of schools.

PSS has asked the governor to reprogram some $8.2 million in CIP money for the immediate renovation and construction of school buildings.