Are students getting the help they need to get back on track after the pandemic shuttered their schools? That was the focus of CNMI delegate to U.S. Congress Gregorio Sablan while he chaired the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee to examine the state of America’s schools in a hearing at the nation’s capital.

Sablan says that the American Rescue Plan mandates that 20% of federal funding for schools, which is $160 million for the CNMI Public School System, be used to recover learning loss during the pandemic’s peak of virtual instruction. 

"We need to stay focused on getting students back to where they would have been if the pandemic had not gotten in the way," Sablan. "We need to stay focused on delivering sustained funding to K-12 schools particularly in communities with the greatest need over the long term. Because whatever your politics surely we can all agree our nation needs its citizens to be well educated during times of emergency and at all times."

School systems have used the funds to hire more mental health providers and in the CNMI, teachers received more help with summer learning programs.