Everyone hopes that the new Superintendent, Jon Fernandez, will be able to work miracles, we just hope he survives long enough to make a difference. Mr. Fernandez has an incredibly impressive resume from all of his good work in Washington DC including knowledge of working with teachers unions, but unfortunately conjuring money out of thin air wasn’t listed. The Washington DC school district has similar demographics to Guam when it comes to the most challenged students. In both districts the majority of the students are eligible for free/reduced lunches and a huge percentage are English Languages Learners. What isn’t similar isn’t the amount each district spends on education. The District of Columbia spent $20,066 per student (2008) whereas Guam only spent $5,564 per student this year. Of course these don’t even take into account that Guam’s cost of living is 25% higher than DC’s. Until our leaders start acting like their own children are going to our public schools and start funding DOE properly our children will always be left behind no matter who the superintendent is.
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