Post by Logan on Feb 9, 2016 3:21:03 GMT -6
ST. THOMAS — Senators in the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee grilled Education Commissioner Sharon McCollum and other department officials Monday about the exact dollar amounts needed to get through the remainder of the school year.
The budgetary shortfall has been a moving target, with McCollum saying at various times that schools need an additional $4.6 million for school lunch, and between $9 million and $12 million for the lunch program and various other items. McCollum also said at a hearing on Jan. 13 that the schools would be out of food by Feb. 1; however, she since has said the existing food supply will last until the end of March.
McCollum said at Monday’s hearing that the total amount needed is $7.2 million. That figure includes $3.2 million for the school lunch program; $3.4 million for the substitute teacher pool; and $600,000 for a territory-wide literacy initiative.
The literacy program is a response to Gov. Kenneth Mapp’s State of the Territory address, during which the governor highlighted the fact that after spending $1 billion of local money on education between 2007 and 2012, “only 13 percent of third-grade USVI students are reading at the third-grade level.”
Read more: www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/local/education-department-says-funding-request-is-now-million/article_58c5eaf8-d884-545d-9219-0a891bee3db3.html
The budgetary shortfall has been a moving target, with McCollum saying at various times that schools need an additional $4.6 million for school lunch, and between $9 million and $12 million for the lunch program and various other items. McCollum also said at a hearing on Jan. 13 that the schools would be out of food by Feb. 1; however, she since has said the existing food supply will last until the end of March.
McCollum said at Monday’s hearing that the total amount needed is $7.2 million. That figure includes $3.2 million for the school lunch program; $3.4 million for the substitute teacher pool; and $600,000 for a territory-wide literacy initiative.
The literacy program is a response to Gov. Kenneth Mapp’s State of the Territory address, during which the governor highlighted the fact that after spending $1 billion of local money on education between 2007 and 2012, “only 13 percent of third-grade USVI students are reading at the third-grade level.”
Read more: www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/local/education-department-says-funding-request-is-now-million/article_58c5eaf8-d884-545d-9219-0a891bee3db3.html