Gov’t earmarks $250K for Kagman school

The government has granted the Public School System a quarter of a million dollars in additional resources to operate the new Kagman Elementary School which opened its doors to close to 800 students Tuesday.

Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos expressed gratitude to Governor Pedro P. Tenorio and the Office of Management and Budget for their swift response to the school system’s pressing needs.

“Your rapid reaction to the needs of the new school provides us with a great deal of hope for fiscal year 2001 and we will be staffing the new school as if funds will also be provided for the teachers and staff for the fiscal years that begins shortly,” Dr. Inos wrote to Gov. Tenorio.

Dr. Inos also lauded Special Assistant for OMB Ed Tenorio for his part in reprogramming funds to ensure the newly-constructed campus is equipped with necessary instruments to operate.

The government this week transferred to PSS the authority to spend $250,000 both for the new school’s personnel and instruction until the end of the month, according to PSS acting fiscal budget officer Bill Matson.

Some $195,000 has been reserved for personnel costs while the remaining $55,000 will be diverted to the acquisition of instructional materials such as textbooks.

“Our needs for instructional materials for the new school far exceeds this amount as the growth in the overall number of students at our existing schools has limited their ability to assist Kagman with the basic instructional materials all students require,” Dr. Inos explained in the revised budget request submitted to the Governor’s Office last month.

Earlier public school principals in the CNMI have agreed to sign over some $234,000 in instructional material allotments for KES after the commissioner appealed for help.
In addition, the school system also accessed over $100,000 from non-school accounts to contribute to the campus’ needs.

Meanwhile, PSS disclosed it will continue to utilize current operating allotments to fund school operating costs in the periods covering August and September, as administrative funds have been reserved for this purpose.

“The governor came through with our request by matching our FTE funds as well as instructional needs. We’re very hopeful that the upcoming fiscal year would be good for the public school in that it would include Kagman as an item in the budget,” said Dr. Inos.