Previous Story
School bus is for public school only • CNMI PTA officer says charging PSS students for bus ride violates free education mandate
|
Posted on Jul 27 1999
Instead of charging bus fare, the Public School System should limit the school bus service to public school students, an officer of the CNMI PTA Council said yesterday.
“May be this is not a good time to charge students for bus ride. It might be too much for some parents of public school students,” said Roman Benavente, the council’s legislative affairs officer.
PSS is currently extending free transportation service to private school students, although the government’s education agency is alone in shouldering the maintenance costs for the buses.
“If parents of private school students can afford to pay high tuition, then may be their schools can afford to provide transportation to their students,” Benavente said. “Considering its limited budget, PSS should be concentrating on delivering services to public schools.”
Benavente also said charging transportation fare may be unnecessary when PSS revives the zoning setup wherein students are required to enroll in public schools in the village where they live.
“If the zoning takes effect, buses will be re-routed; they will have shorter routes because they would be taking trips only within a certain area,” Benavente said. “That way, PSS can save in gas consumption.”
During the Board of Education meeting last week, board members Anthony Pellegrino and Marja Lee Taitano proposed that PSS implement revenue-generating measures to augment the agency’s limited budget.
One of the proposed measures is to charge 25 cents per student for bus ride and to require a $10 deposit for books that would be loaned to students.
“These proposals may not take effect unless affected members of the community are consulted,” Benavente said. “These constitute a violation of constitutional mandate for free education.”
PSS is pushing for a budget of $48 million for fiscal year 2000, but is likely to get only $38 million.
Pellegrino said instead of complaining about the budget crisis, PSS should start looking for its own money.
Taitano said earlier she expected parents to complain about the proposed charging of fees for bus ride and book use, but that may be the only alternative for PSS to raise money. (MCM)
