NMC: Instructional needs suffer due to insufficient funding

Northern Marianas College has not been able to meet some of its instructional needs because of the government’s failure to remit the full amount appropriated by two public laws to the college, according to an NMC report.

Public Law 5-32, as amended by P.L. 10-66, states that all available funds from the nonresident worker fees must be remitted to NMC after the distributions specified in the law are made. NMC’s business, nursing, education, and technical trades vocational educational programs are funded under P.L. 5-32/10-66.

However, NMC’s 2005 report showed that the college had historically received only a fraction of the amount that should have been made available to the NMC pursuant to the two laws.

From fiscal year 1991 to FY 2000, Legislative appropriations for NMC vocational programs ranged between $1.3 million and $1.5 million.

The funding level further declined in FY 2001, when the budget law suspended all earmarking laws, including the provisions of P.L. 10-66, and limited the vocational programs’ funding to $1.2 million a year.

To this date, the programs have remained at this FY 2001 level. This occurs while the government collects $250 per year for the registration of each of the estimated 30,000 guest workers in the Commonwealth.

Due to inadequate appropriations, the college has had to resort to approaching the CNMI government annually for supplemental budget.

Although additional appropriations have been made, the funding levels received by the college have never adequately met the financial needs of the vocational programs. From FY 1992 to FY 2005, the differences between NMC’s budget request and actual appropriations ranged between $13,995 and $4.05 million.

The report also indicated that although NMC was authorized to hire 62 full-time employees for its vocational programs under the continuing resolution funding levels, NMC receives funding for only 21 full-time employees.

In summary, NMC president Antonio Deleon Guerrero said that, as a result of insufficient funding, the college had not been able to: Increase faculty salaries so that NMC can recruit and retain qualified faculty; increase the number of program faculty so that NMC programs can be expanded to meet the CNMI’s increasing demand; allow for professional development of faculty so they can remain current in their respective fields; purchase adequate instructional equipment, materials, and supplies; and provide financial assistance for participating NMC students.

“With adequate financial support, the major concerns presented in individual program accounts could be addressed and the program faculty and staff would be able to fulfill the mandate of these well-intentioned CNMI public laws,” Deleon Guerrero said in the report.