Guam State Clearinghouse - “Latest News”

The government will no longer be able to advance allotments for the Guam Department of Education due to low revenue collections. Dr. Nerissa Underwood Education superintendent Dr. Nerissa Underwood has received this notice from the Bureau of Budget and Management and George Bamba, the governor’s chief of staff.

The notice prompted Underwood to write to Phil Maestri, USDOE director for risk management service, seeking approval to use the 2008 consolidated grants carryover funds of approximately $8 million.

“The lack of some type of bridge financing combined with existing personnel costs and contractual obligations that local budget have already been designated to fund, makes it very difficult to support the federally funded programs,” Underwood stated in her Jan. 27 letter to Maestri.

“But until such time that we have the third-party agent in place, GDOE needs assistance in meeting the financial obligations in supporting programs and services that are under the Consolidated Grant,” Underwood wrote.

But USDOE made it clear to Underwood that funds cannot be used from the consolidated grant until a third-party fiduciary agent is in place, which will not occur until April.

The $8 million cannot be used since it was carried over to the 2009 consolidated grant, therefore the 2008 funding no longer exists. The 2009 grant has yet to be awarded because of the special conditions imposed on GDOE and the need for a third-party agent.

Underwood argued that GDOE submitted a detailed description of how GDOE intends to use the 2008 consolidated grant carryover funds. Also, a series of conference calls were made in December and January and the revised 2009 consolidated grant application was submitted on Jan. 22 as well as the latest packet on the reallocation of the $8 million carryover funds.

Furthermore, Underwood said GDOE also submitted assurances signed by herself and GDOE’s internal auditor on Nov. 29 with revised assurances submitted on Dec. 14. The revised assurances were approved by USDOE, said Underwood.

No guarantees

And although GDOE has assured the governor and speaker Judi Won Pat that the local government will be fully reimbursed once the consolidated grant is awarded, there are no guarantees.

“There is no guarantee that they will be reimbursed, this is a risk that Guam is taking,” said a confidential source.

According to the source, the Success For All program that Agana Heights Elementary School implemented has no tutors.

“In the contract, it states that the program has to be implemented properly. If it is not being implemented properly, there will not be any reimbursement for this program,” the source said.

“GDOE is just paying the salaries of these employees, but are they implementing the program. That is the question. Are they doing outreach? No, because there is no money to do any outreach. It’s not being implemented properly and the third-party is going to tell GDOE that it needs to pay back the government and that USDOE will not reimburse the local government because the programs were not implemented properly,” the source said.

Success For All consultants will be pulling their contract soon if GDOE does not pay their invoices, said the source.

Ref: MVar 2/2/10