Educate the politicians

The Sept. 10 issue of this newspaper was rife with articles yearning to be replied to, most notably in an election year. I am commenting on, at least in part, the article on the proposed increase in the Public School System’s budget.

PSS has been operating on a continuing resolution for at least 10 years, and two new high schools and one new junior high have been opened in that time. The three new schools further divide up an already dismal PSS budget. PSS is now in a situation where a fairly large mainland high school has a significantly larger budget then the whole of PSS. The chairman of a recent accreditation team from the mainland stated that he was at one time the principal of a high school on the U.S. mainland; the student population of that school was 3,000. He said that the budget for that school alone was twice the budget for the whole of PSS, which has a student population of at least 12,000. The public schools have been making steady progress with student achievement but, with this kind of funding, how can we expect to ever be on par with average mainland schools?

The teacher retention rate, which research clearly shows is closely tied to student performance, in the NMI is very poor for a few reasons: no substitute teachers, lack of educational materials, lack of basic supplies at schools (cleaning supplies, toilet paper, copy paper, etc.), lack of custodians to clean classrooms, nearly nonexistent budgets for school maintenance and the inability of PSS to grant yearly pay-grade increases for teachers, which are clearly indicated in the official, published pay scale. Teaching is a challenging, time-consuming career at its best, but with all these other issues included, it is no wonder teachers suffer, get burnt out, or just plain get frustrated and move on.

Many, but not all, of the teacher retention problems could be solved with an adequate budget, but is there money available? Yes there is! The NMI has a unique opportunity this December. As many know, this is the last year for the special retirement bonus, and because of that, many workers at, or near, the top of the pay scale will be retiring. This is a great time to reduce the number of workers in the many over-staffed government departments. Each department should be compared to equivalent departments in U.S. towns with about the same population as the NMI (70,000?). If the workforce in any given department is substantially above the number in the mainland equivalents, the open positions caused by the upcoming retiring employees should not be filled with new employees. Positions within the department should be consolidated and new job descriptions written. There are many positions in government departments that do not keep the workers busy full time, yet they are paid as full-time employees. Every full-time employee should have a job that keeps him/her busy. With the consolidation of positions throughout the government, the savings would provide a substantial amount of extra funds. The sorely needed funding for PSS would easily be acquired, and there would be money left over for other much needed endeavors.

Again, this is an election year. Every politician claims he/she feels that the youth of the NMI, and their educational needs, are important, yet there has been no increase in the PSS budget in 10 years or more. The elected officials have plenty to say about education, notably during an election year, but they have done nothing about it for over 10 years! Which candidates will openly endorse proper funding for PSS? Let them stand up now and make that known. Any candidate not willing to show their support for the youth of the NMI and their education should not be elected to office. It is up to the public to increase. Those now in office, if they wish to retain their positions, should pass the increased PSS budget immediately.

Thomas D. Wilkins
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