320 public school employees to be paid with federal funds

A large number of Public School System personnel will be paid using federal funds amounting to $11 million this fiscal year.

PSS federal programs officer Tim Thornburgh said the salaries of 320 employees will be paid by various federal programs administered by PSS.

Majority of these federally funded employees are support staffers and classroom teachers on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. Sources of funding are the consolidated grant and special education program grants, among others.

“We’re estimating over $11 million in total salary cost for all these 320 employees,” said Thornburgh in a visit to his office.

The salaries of about 800 other employees will be paid using local funding, he added.

He disclosed that PSS has approximately over 1,100 employees as of last week, of whom 575 are classroom teachers.

Under the House-approved version of the budget plan for fiscal year 2012—which starts in Oct. 1—public schools will receive just $27.9 million for personnel and operations. This amount is short of the minimum needed to meet the maintenance-of-effort requirement of the U.S. Department of Education. which provides numerous federal grants to the school system.

The Senate, which is expected to tackle today a new version of the budget, has indicated that it will give PSS a higher allocation.

Board of Education chair Marylou Ada, board member Herman T. Guerrero, and Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan all declined to comment on the House budget bill, pending the action of the Senate.

The board and PSS had asked for a $36 million budget for 2012—some $8 million higher than the $28 million that Gov. Benigno R. Fitial eventually asked the Legislature for PSS in his budget submission.

According to PSS finance director Richard Waldo, PSS expects “big trouble” if the budget plan does not change. He declined to elaborate but hinted that this may result in a huge shortfall for the school system.

“It will be a very tough year for us if they will not change the budget figure for PSS. We will be in big trouble,” he told Saipan Tribune.

The $32.4 million in combined federal assistance that PSS got last fiscal year through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the one-time state fiscal stabilization fund will expire this month.

Waldo told Saipan Tribune during a recent board meeting that these grants saved the school system in addressing many important obligations such as the salaries of several teachers, payment for utilities, and other immediate needs of school campuses. The bulk of the state fiscal stabilization fund was used to modernize and renovate all 20 public schools throughout the Commonwealth.