Guam -  Guam DOE is in the process of laying off 302 employees  who work on federally funded school programs.

The layoffs become effective Monday.

That word from the DOE Superintendent Dr. Nersissa Underwood, who says without the funds to cover them, they have no other choice.

Notices will be sent out to the workers Friday. The layoffs include federally funded employees under Direct Instruction, Direct Instruction substitutes, part time employees of the Alternative School,  the regular salaried employees of the teacher retention program, the PFC Outreach Program and BOT regular and substitute teachers under the Success for All program.

The cuts come on the heels of a decision by the U.S. Department of Education which states that Guam DOE  cannot transfer its remaining federal funds from last  year to cover existing federal programs this year.

Nor does Guam law allow for local funds to be used to make up for shortfalls in a federal program.

The problems began when last month, U.S. DOE Risk Management Director Phil Maestri ruled that Guam DOE could not make use of any new federal funding until a third party financial manager has been selected and approved to oversee the management of the school systems federal funds. The third party fiscal manager is not expected to be approved and in place until March or April.

However, last month Dr. Underwood gave assurances that, despite Maestri's decision, $9 million dollars in left-over federal grant funds from last year would be used to keep DOE's federal programs running. There would be no layoffs or cutbacks in federal programs she said.

That changed Wednesday when Dr. Underwood was informed that those leftover funds could not be transferred from one federal program to another. She said: "USDOE informed me yesterday that Guam DOE is restricted from transferring funds across programs funded by the consolidated grant.  Although DOE has approximately $9 million carryover funds, certain programs will be adversely affected without the flexibility because budget categories will have shortfalls."

She also said : "The current budget law also prohibits Guam DOE from using local funds to cover federally funded programs that run out of money.  The Legislature will have to authorize DOE to use local funds to cover the shortfalls in federally funded object categories under the Consolidated Grant.  DOE also needs additional funds to cover the shortfall." 

 Underwood says she will seek assistance from the legislature in finding money to cover the shortfalls in the federally funded programs. But the governor has a different idea, saying DOE will have to find the solution within itself, because the rest of the government cannot continue to bear the weight of their continued financial mismanagement.
 

Written by :

Mana Silva Taijeron

 

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