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09/04/2025 - The CNMI Public School System may face reduced instructional days, staff furloughs, and even school mergers as soon as Oct. 1, 2025, if lawmakers approve only $31.7 million of its requested $49-million budget, according to education officials during a recent town hall.
Commissioner of Education Dr. Lawrence Camacho told parents, teachers, and students during the CNMI PSS “Let’s Talk Budget” Town Hall Meeting-Northern Cluster last Sept. 2 that PSS needs at least $40 million to maintain core programs.
Anything less, he said, would reverse recent gains in student achievement and compromise the quality of education for more than 8,000 students across 20 schools and 10 Head Start centers.
“If we don't get the necessary resources that we need, in my world, it's the budget that I have to function with, that we have to function with, we're going to see ourselves taking a step back. And that's the one thing that we're trying to protect across the system is the quality that we currently have right now,” said Camacho.
If PSS receives only $31.7 million, Camacho and acting PSS Finance director Jonathan Aguon outlined a slate of austerity measures:
A 64-hour work schedule that would cut staff pay by 20% and create “Austerity Mondays,” eliminating one instructional day per week.
Reduction of the academic calendar from 180 to 150 days, requiring a government-declared state of emergency.
Furloughs targeting substitute teachers, non-highly qualified staff, counselors, vice principals, and central office workers.
Larger class sizes, diminished counseling services, and delayed maintenance.
Potential school mergers, such as consolidating middle schools with low enrollment.
Under the latter austerity measure, the public schools that would be merged are Hopwood Middle School and Francisco M. Sablan Middle School and Chacha Oceanview Middle School and Tanapag Middle School, with Da’Ok Academy being furloughed.
Camacho clarified that the aforementioned austerity measures aren’t really savings in his book, but are actually painful cuts to keep PSS afloat.
During the question-and-answer session following Camacho and Aguon’s presentation, Marianas High School teacher Jeremiah Rother pressed him on whether PSS should sue the central government to enforce the CNMI Constitution’s requirement that at least 25% of local revenues—estimated at $44 million—go to education.
Camacho said he preferred working with lawmakers and the governor to secure at least $40 million, warning that a lawsuit could take years.
During the Q&A, parents suggested pursuing private grants or fundraising, while students voiced fears that fewer school days and fewer counselors would leave them unprepared for college and careers.
The House of Representatives has backed $40 million for PSS in its budget proposal, but the Senate has yet to act. Camacho urged the community to make their voices heard.
Board of Education member B. Maisie Tenorio, who was in attendance, said even though under the constitution, PSS is entitled to $44 million, they’re willing to work with $40 million.
“I think that it's critical, and I'm glad to see that some legislators were here. I wish there were more because these are their constituents. There are constituents, and it's important that they hear the impact that this budget is going to have. And when you think about what we're doing here in the Public School System, we're not just impacting the community at the end of the day, right? This is education we're talking about. We're talking impacts 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road. And so this is an investment in the future of the CNMI,” she told Marianas Press.
Rother doubled down on his ask for PSS to press the central government on the school system’s mandated 25% share of local revenues.
“I would like to urge the CNMI Public School System to move forward with filing a lawsuit against the central government. At no point since the constitutional amendment guaranteeing the school system 25% of general revenue, at no point since that was passed, has PSS ever received 25% of general revenue,” he said during an interview after the town hall.”
Rother also questioned why the meeting happened less than a month from the potential cuts starting on Oct. 1.
Rep. Thomas John Manglona also spoke to MP after the event and said, as a product of PSS himself, the Legislature’s goal is to at least appropriate $40 million to PSS for fiscal year 2026.
“I'm confident and hopeful that working with the Senate that we can at least get to that $40-million mark that is being requested for PSS right now.”
BOE student representative and Youth Congress speaker Vinnie Juan Q. Sablan Jr., meanwhile, thanked Camacho and the rest of the PSS for their transparency during the town hall meeting.
“I'm just commending him for doing such a great job. I do not doubt that whatever happens, he will come up with a great plan that will work for everybody. At the end of the day, if this is the reality, it's something that we can't face, but it's a hardship that we will have to. I think that's the kind of reality that a lot of people have to take into account.”
During the town hall, Kagman High School 11th grader Anastacia Minor also spoke up against the perils of the planned austerity measures and how these would affect learning among her peers.
“We also kind of need to take into account how student learning throughout this whole journey is going to be affected, and that it'll be kind of harder for students who have different learning abilities, especially those who have learned best with one-on-one contact with counselors or even teachers. How is that going to be affected with all these cuts of staff and also counselors who are very helpful to students, actually, with their whole learning journey?” she asked Camacho.
Report by Mark Rabago
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