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PSS travels cost $400K •“This looked like we satisfied ourselves first.”
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Posted on Jan 08 1999
The Public School System has spent $417,256.76 for travels from October 1997 to December 1998, and Board of Education members say this does not speak well of the school system at this time when the education budget is running short.
BOE member Ester Fleming calls the spending “excessive.”
“This looked like we satisfied ourselves first,” Fleming said.
The funds were drawn from local and federal sources and went toward training of staff and BOE members and attendance of conferences.
Anthony Pellegrino, the chairman of the BOE Fiscal and Personnel Committee, presented the travel spending in yesterday’s meeting to direct discussions on suspending trips while the austerity measures were in effect.
“I was hoping somebody will offer a motion to suspend trips,” he said.
Commissioner of Education Rita Inos told the committee that some travel policies had recently been revised, aimed at reducing expenses on travels.
For instance, she said, PSS now observed the per diem rate of the federal government, which is lower than the local rate for official travels.
“So the figures you see here do not embrace those cuts,” she said.
Inos cited the need for teachers to attend trainings, which sometimes were held outside the CNMI. Chairman Marja Lee Taitano also defended the travels.
Pellegrino said he couldn’t bring himself to defend the education budget before the Legislature next time with the size of budget PSS had splurged on travels.
“I can’t go to the Legislature to justify our budget if we blow this much money,” he said.
Pellegrino added: “Are we getting the return on investment? I have yet to read a travel report. We can’t say it is federal money, this is still money.”
Inos offered to bring down travel expenses this year. If necessary, she said, future travels need to be justified.
