Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred Ada said that the Public School System is currently struggling to pay teachers their salaries and is unsure when they will pay the remaining 30% that is owed from last payroll. <\/p>\n
In a phone interview with Ada, he said that he doesn\u2019t know how and when PSS will be able to pay the remaining 30% of teachers\u2019 salaries, let alone next payroll. This is because the CNMI\u2019s budget continues to dwindle as a result of no revenue collection due of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
Last pay period, locally funded teachers were only paid 70% of their salaries, while federally paid employees were paid 100%. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m worried about is next payday. I don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going to get that money but we will keep looking,\u201d said Ada. <\/p>\n
He assured, though, that he will make sure that teachers are paid, even for just a portion of their salaries, next payroll. <\/p>\n
\u201cI will make sure they will get paid. I don\u2019t know how, but I will find a way. The board is going to help pay these teachers. These teachers, this is their livelihood, their passion, they need this money to survive too,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Ada said he is currently still looking for funding sources and will plead and beg if he has to. \u201cI am going to plead and beg for money elsewhere. I don\u2019t know where to go. I can\u2019t turn to federal because they are highly regulated, we\u2019re not allowed to use that for personnel. We need local cash but we don\u2019t have local cash,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
According to Saipan Tribune archives, a little over 800 locally funded PSS staff were paid only 70% of their biweekly salary last pay period. <\/p>\n
Kimo Rosario, PSS director of Finance, said that, in the last pay period, PSS only received $727,000 in local funds. Of that amount, $230,000 went to FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) payment. The remaining amount was the net pay for employees.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur budget was revised back in February, [which] only leaves us with $14 million to operate for the next eight months. That was further revised due to dwindling collections, leaving PSS with practically nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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