Education costs high, says report

With limited budget in education, the CNMI government spent some $22.2 million in operating and capital costs to educate a total of 1,272 non-U.S. citizen school age children in school year 1997-1998 on the island.

This was contained in a study conducted by the Office of Insular Affairs and the Department of Interior on the impact of non-residents on the economy and public infrastructure of the CNMI.

However, board of education director Tony Pellegrino immediately questioned the validity of the data saying it was impossible for the Public School System to have used such amount which was already half of its $42.4 million budget for fiscal year 1998.

The Northern Marianas has been seeking reimbursement from the federal government for the amount the commonwealth has spent on Freely Associated State nationals but such request has been ignored, Pellegrino said.

Of the total $5,976,390 total operating costs, some $3,553,212 was spent for FAS school age children while $2,443,178 was given to other non-U.S. citizen school age children who are from Asian countries.

On the other hand, the Northern Marianas spent $16,248,210 in capital costs to accommodate non-U.S. citizen school age children. Of this amount, $9,605,860 went to accommodate school age children of FAS ethnicity and $6,642,350 was spent on children of contract workers from Asia.

According to the study, the CNMI spends $5,976,390 annually in operating costs to educate non-U.S. citizen school age children. Of this amount, $3,533,212 has been spent on children of FAS ethnicity and $2,443,178 on children of other non-U.S. citizens who are mostly contract workers from the Philippines and other Asian countries.

The study used both quantitative and qualitative analyses in evaluating the overall cost to the CNMI of providing PSS facilities and teachers to children residing in the commonwealth.

In school year 1997-1998, a total of 8,856 students were educated in public school through elementary and high school. Of this, 85.6 are U.S. citizens and 14.4 are non U.S. citizens.

Those who are non-U.S. citizens are of Chuukese, Palauan, Pohnpeian, Marshallese, or Yapese ethnicity. Also, 3.8 percent of the total non-U.S. citizens are of Filipino ethnicity and 2.1 percent are of other Asian ethnicities.

An analysis of the data indicated that it costs the CNMI $41,609,207 annually in operating costs to educate the entire 8,856 student population who were enrolled in school year 1997-1998.

There are a total of 10 elementary schools in the CNMI, one junior high school and three high schools. Only Saipan has one junior high school while the island-municipalities of Tinian and Rota use the same elementary school facilities for junior high schools.

Breakdown of the population on each island is as follows: Saipan , 6,445 students were children of U.S. citizens while 1,196 children of non-U.S. citizens; Tinian, 561 children of U.S. citizens while 33 children of non-U.S. citizens; Rota, 578 children of U.S. citizens and 43 children of non-U.S. citizens.

Based on the study, PSS employed 464 teachers to serve 8,856 students. Non-teaching personnel during the same school year totaled 493 employees which include teacher’s aides, central administrative, maintenance/custodial.