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Unresolved MOE troubles PSS’ Sablan
The Inos administration’s inaction on the unremitted maintenance-of-effort funds due the Public School System is troubling Education Commissioner Dr. Rita A. Sablan.
The CNMI received $44 million under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund in 2009, of which $32.3 million was for public education. One of the conditions for this grant was that PSS must be given a specific share in the overall budget of the CNMI government, otherwise known as the MOE. At the time, this was equivalent to 40 cents to a dollar or 25 percent of the overall CNMI government budget.
Based on PSS’ books, the unremitted MOE for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 is over $7 million.
The CNMI government filed a waiver application with the U.S. Department of Education in 2012, seeking to change the MOE formula but the department has yet to approve this.
In March this year, U.S. Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan sent another letter to Gov. Eloy S. Inos, saying that noncompliance with the MOE requirement would potentially result in the CNMI being required to pay back the $44 million federal grant. He said this would also have potential negative impact on future federal awards for the CNMI.
Yesterday, Sablan’s office confirmed that it received only an acknowledgment of the delegate’s letter to the governor.
Press secretary Angel A. Demapan has yet to respond to Saipan Tribune’s inquiry on the status of the matter as of press time.
According to Commissioner Sablan, the situation with the MOE is “troublesome.”
“I haven’t heard [anything on MOE issue] which troubles me so much,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune. She confirmed receiving no communication at all relating to the MOE.
“There’s no reason we should go back and forth [on this]. If the governor has methodology to identify the funding for MOE then let the USDOE look at it and see if it’s favorable to the law. If it is, then let’s settle with that,” said Sablan.
In an earlier interview with Saipan Tribune, Delegate Sablan disclosed that the fact that there’s no decision from USDOE means that the first decision on the formula stands unchanged.
