The Public School System has lost 137 employees since January, including 47 teachers, and did not hire replacements for the teachers before reopening schools this week as the cash-strapped school system tries to stretch its workforce and budget.
Acting Education commissioner Jackie Che told the House Ways and Means Committee last Wednesday, Aug. 19, that PSS instead shuffled existing teachers among campuses and reassigned central office personnel to schools to fill critical gaps.
“We have lost so many staff. We are very limited in our current pool even within our maintenance and our facilities, and we've lost a lot of people,” Che said. “Between January and today, we've lost 47 teachers. We did not hire for the reopening.”
Che said PSS reviewed its staffing pattern, moved teachers among schools, and sent central office employees to campuses to work as teachers, counselors, and registrars.
The vacancies also have a substantial dollar value.
PSS Human Resources Office director Lucretia B. Deleon Guerrero estimated that salaries and benefits for the 47 departed teachers totaled about $2.5 million. The estimated personnel cost associated with all the vacancies was about $3.8 million, although PSS stressed that the figure was an estimate.
Lawmakers explored whether those vacancies could provide PSS greater flexibility as they work toward funding the school system for fiscal year 2027. PSS said the money associated with employees who left is being used during the current fiscal year, but confirmed that the vacant positions are factored into its proposed FY 2027 budget.
PSS is seeking $44.98 million to fund employees at 80 hours every two weeks and provide students with five regular instructional days each week.
At $41 million, employees would remain at 72 hours, with every other Monday designated for austerity. At roughly $37 million, PSS would maintain its current 835 filled positions at 64 hours, with employees working four days a week and Mondays remaining an austerity day.
Che called $37 million PSS' baseline but said $44.9 million remains the goal.
“At $44 million, which is the goal, that means five days but locally funded. At this $37 million, that means four days locally funded but the Monday will be an intervention Monday,” she said.
Under that possible arrangement, PSS is exploring whether federal funds could support Monday intervention services for students. Che cautioned that federal approval has not been secured to use those funds as regular salaries, and the proposed Monday services would not be the same as regular classes.
The administration's revised budget presented two PSS funding scenarios—about $37 million under the first and $36 million under the second. PSS said the first would be approximately $59,000 below its 64-hour baseline, while the second would leave a roughly $1.2 million shortfall.
Lawmakers, however, identified other potential funding sources that they said could bring PSS closer to $40 million.
During the hearing, lawmakers pointed to about $2.7 million reflected in PSS' FY 2023 books and roughly $600,000 in annual earmarked funds whose restrictions potentially could be loosened. PSS cautioned that the amount of older funds should be confirmed through more current audits before being relied upon.
The discussion is significant because anything below PSS' roughly $37 million baseline could require deeper cuts.
PSS said falling below that level could mean further reductions in school days, furloughs, reductions in force, and possible school consolidation.
Students are already coming off a school year in which PSS said 53 instructional days were lost—40 because of Super Typhoon Sinlaku and another 13 because of austerity. If PSS operates at 72 hours this school year, it projects losing 17 days to austerity. At 64 hours, that would increase to 35 days.
PSS is also preparing additional cost-cutting measures as enrollment continues to decline, including restructuring central office, school right-sizing, and possible school consolidation or closures.
Che said PSS has already frozen general salary increases and scale raises for management and director-level positions. Certification-based pay increases have also been frozen since Nov. 1, 2025, while salary adjustments for employees earning higher degrees have been temporarily suspended. Employee travel has largely been halted, and schools have been directed to reduce energy consumption.
The staffing losses also drew concern from Grace Naputi, acting president of the Parent Advisory Council, who testified during the public comment portion of Wednesday's hearing.
Naputi said financial instability may be contributing to the departure of the 137 PSS employees and described the losses as more than 10% of the educational workforce.
“Every teacher who leaves represents more than a vacant position. It represents lost experience, disrupted relationships, increased workload, and fewer opportunities for students to thrive,” Naputi said.
Another concern hanging over PSS is the administration's second budget scenario, which proposes reducing PSS' constitutional earmark from 25% to 15%.
Asked what that could mean, Che used a hypothetical $100-million government revenue projection to illustrate the impact: PSS would receive $15 million.
“That would be a severe devastation that we will not be able to open up any schools. That would be complete shutdown,” Che said.
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