The House of Representatives leadership has assured the Public School System of the passage of its 2005 budget of $42 million this month.<\/p>\n
Board of Education chair Roman C. Benavente said the leadership, headed by House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, said that it would resort to a piecemeal budget approval to ensure that PSS gets its needed money for the current school year.<\/p>\n
Fitial and other members of the leadership, including House Education Committee chair Justo Quitugua, met with BOE and PSS officials Friday to discuss budget concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe leadership will assist us. We\u2019ve got an assurance that they will pass the budget,\u201d said Benavente.<\/p>\n
He said the meeting took several hours\u2014from 9am to 1pm\u2014because the lawmakers wanted to see \u201cthe real picture\u201d at PSS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re trying to see if our budget was a fat budget, or if it has any excesses. But they saw that our budget is very lean and it\u2019s based on needs,\u201d said Benavente.<\/p>\n
Aside from the board chair, other education officials present at the meeting included education associate commissioner for administration David Borja, PSS financial director Richard Waldo, federal program officer Tim Thornberg, board vice chair Dino Jones, and board special assistant Perry Tenorio.<\/p>\n
Benavente said the meeting with the lawmakers covered a wide range of issues including classroom and supply needs and salary increases.<\/p>\n
He said the leadership team did not recommend any more cuts in the proposed budget \u201cbecause it\u2019s very sound, realistic, and is based on needs.\u201d He said, though, that the lawmakers asked for statistics on both federal and local funding.<\/p>\n
Benavente said the $42 million budget level was the negotiated amount submitted by the Executive Branch to the Legislature. He said the PSS originally proposed a $48-million budget.<\/p>\n
\u201c$42 million is a comfortable figure. It\u2019s definitely better than what we\u2019re getting now, which is $36 million to $37 million a year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Executive Branch has submitted a $226 million budget proposal for 2005. The Legislature, however, said that its joint panel is inclined to keep the budget level at $213 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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