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Deadline to order test materials draws near

by Michele Catahay

Guam - SAT-10 testing is conducted every year to gauge how the island's public school students fare in academics.  But it seems that every year the Department of Education has problems when it comes to paying for the testing materials.  The agency's current cash crisis has crippled DOE's ability even further to ensure the legally mandated testing materials are purchased in time.

DOE needs the money by the end of the month...or SAT-10 testing won't happen.

The lack of federal dollars is having a trickle-down effect on the operations at DOE. First DOE has said it doesn't have enough funds to pay all its vendors - now, KUAM News has learned that the agency has until the end of the month to pay Pearson Incorporated to cover SAT-10 testing materials. Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Eva San Nicolas says DOE needs $150,000 by the end of February to purchase materials for testing in April.  Testing is scheduled for April 26 through May 7, but San Nicolas says they need to place the orders soon so testing can occur on time.

San Nicolas says they need to place the orders soon so testing can occur on time, but that's proving difficult.

DOE continues to juggle around cash to pay employees until they're given the okay by the U.S. Department of Education to use carry-over funds. As a result, they've had to use local funds to cover costs under the federal programs.

In the meantime, San Nicolas says she's been working with the Finance Office and Federal Programs to ensure the funding is given to order materials, saying, "We are concerned because we are mandated by law that we conduct these assessments. Also we are concerned that in previous years, we had our consolidated grant to pay for the SAT-10 materials. It was a state activity. At this time though, if we do have local funds, we're hoping to get reimbursed by the feds when they do release our funds."

Because of DOE's inability to pay its bills, much less on time, Pearson is demanding payment up front and has said testing materials won't be sent until the money is paid.

San Nicolas says testing cannot be delayed as it's needed to track the progress of students and outline the areas that need improvement.

"We can't have it pushed back. The assessment timeline is very tight and we do need our students to be tested before the school year ends. The seniors are usually out a week early so we want to have all of these assessments completed by the seniors are out," she said.

The U.S. Department of Education is currently reviewing the superintendent's request to drawdown approximately $8,000,000 in carry over funds.  Dr. Nerissa Bretania Underwood says she's hopeful the request will be granted in the next two weeks, as the department is finding it more and more difficult to juggle funds.  What's worse is BBMR will not give DOE any more money since GovGuam is already short cash for all other agencies.