Inos thanks Senate but prefers House version

Although Commissioner of Education Rita H. Inos is grateful that the Senate passed a budget for the Public School System, she still prefers the House version of the appropriation bill.

In a letter addressed to House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial and Sen. Joaquin G. Adriano last week, Inos said PSS wants the House version of the bill, which earmarks the full $50 million budget requested by the agency.

The Senate version, she said, only earmarks the deficit reduction funds for PSS in fiscal year 2006.

“[This would] present problems as it conflicts with the earmarking provisions of HB 14-369, Textbook Relief Act, which both the House and Senate passed earlier this month,” said Inos.

She added that earmarking the deficit reduction funds—which is $2 million—for repairs and renovation and then requesting that Compact Impact funds of $5.2 million be reserved for public health only would present problems for the PSS. This is because the repairs and renovations in all schools that need maintenance and repairs would exceed $2 million.

“We recommend that if you wish to earmark the deficit reduction account, then reserve the deficit reduction amount for public health and provide PSS with the $50 million budget exactly as passed by the House,” said Inos.

The Commonwealth, she said, has been under continuing resolution for the past two years and PSS will shoulder insufficient funds for the next fiscal year if the Legislature neglects to pass a budget by the start of the next fiscal year.

Inos added that the PSS would still prefer the full $50 million appropriation developed by the House, should both upper and lower chambers appoint “conferees” to resolve the differences between the two bills.

The Senate passed last Tuesday by unanimous vote a $206 million budget proposal that would cut the appropriations of all but five agencies by 17 to 20 percent.

The senators transmitted the draft budget to the House of Representatives, along with a challenge for the Lower House to follow suit. The bill approved by the Senate amended House Bill 14-371, which provided the Public School System a $50 million budget and left everybody else’s budget unspecified.

The Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs, headed by Sen. Joseph Mendiola, amended the bill by creating a breakdown of the $206.5 million resources identified as available to the Commonwealth for fiscal year 2006.

The Senate version of the FY 2006 appropriation bill sets the PSS’ funding level at $48 million. It also mandates the Department of Finance to allocate to PSS the deficit reduction amounts collected from all government agencies. Mendiola estimated these amounts to reach $2 million and bring PSS’ total funding to its requested $50 million. The use of budget deficit funds for PSS needs will apply for fiscal year 2006 only.