by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - A budget of more than $260 million for the Department of Education will head to the Guam Legislature for senatorial review. The Guam Education Board met last night and cut DOE's initial request of $281 million by more than $20 million.

GEB chairperson Francis Santos said, "So the final budget is about $2 million. We actually took a lot of issues on the number of FTEs, we cut that down significantly the only new positions that will be granted in this budget will be for teacher positions and federal related to special education."

And deputy superintendent of finance Taling Taitano added, "They also took a look at our capital outlay and cut some things there, we're going to try to shift some of those to other credit sources, we took a look t there was cut in travel, we just got the e-rate contracts in, so we were able to cut down the amount that was initially projected for telephones. It went through a variety of different accounts. They were able to shave about $22 million."

The board meanwhile is still considering the possibility of closing F.Q. Sanchez Elementary School in Umatac, but Santos says they will first meet with stakeholders in the village to gather their input. That meeting will be held either later this month or in May.