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Guam Public Schools Will Not Lose Power |
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Officials work together to pay GPSS power bill and ensure students stay in school
February 27, 2009
Acting Governor Michael W. Cruz today led a meeting with public school officials, Department of Administration, Guam Power Authority and the government’s fiscal team to prevent the disconnection of power to Guam’s public schools.
“This is about 31,000 students. We will not send them home because their school could not pay the power bill,” said Acting Governor Cruz. “I’ve called a meeting with GPSS and DOA officials and members of our fiscal team to figure out how we can fix this and prevent it from happening again.”
Consolidated Commission on Utilities Chairman, Simon Sanchez, participated in the meeting via telephone and was in agreement with the payment schedule proposed by GPSS, DOA and the government’s fiscal team. To resolve prior year obligations, GPSS will be requesting legislative permission, as required by law, to pay past debt to GPA. Moving forward, GPSS and senior members of the administration will continue to monitor the cash flow needs of the education system and better communicate any area of concern before it become critical.
“We recognize that our government’s funds are tight right now and the need will be mindful of how we spend money from the general fund,” said Superintendent Schafer. “On behalf of the thousands of public school students, I thank the Acting Governor and Chairman Sanchez whose leadership and cooperation helped us avoid a crisis.”
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