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CNMI can’t keep up with ideal class size
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Posted on Jan 08 1999
Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider said the national teacher-to-student ratio of 18-1 is unrealistic in the CNMI.
“Sometimes national policies are (promulgated) without taking into consideration the insular territories,” he said.
Hofschneider said the imposition of a standard class size should be coupled with federal support for infrastructure so that territories could keep up.
Most of the time, however, island governments are made to match federal funds even to test pilot projects.
“There are numerous programs that we have instituted because we needed the money. In the end, we suffered the consequences of implementing such programs, and there is no real assessment, even from the federal side, on their efficacy,” he said.
Hofschneider cited Headstart as one of the programs that the federal government piloted in the CNMI.
“It appears to us as an effective method of introducing our young kids to education, but in the long run, ‘Is there an alternative program that is far more effective’?” he said.
The Public School System is trying to keep the size of each class manageable, keeping the student-teacher ratio at 21-1. However, this was temporarily suspended to help PSS cope with a budget shortfall.
“We are in the midst of trying to reduce the current number of student per class, but again we are subjected to the matching conditions,” Hofschneider said.
