School finance and facilities are critical in supporting the delivery of educational services. The Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory's (PREL's) School Finance and Facilities Study was designed to provide the ten entities of the Pacific region served by PREL - American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnepi, and Yap), Guam, Hawaii, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau - with a status report on these aspects of their education, as well as make this information available to other interested parties. Since these entities are diverse in their political status and level of economic development, their schools rely on a number of funding sources and operate under a number of organizational structures.
Identify Education as a Priority:
Pacific entities must identify education as a top priority. Expenses for education are not a single expenditure for a product or service but must be viewed as an investment in the future of each entity's society as a whole.
Develop a Comprehensive, Implementable Education Plan:
Each and every entity needs to develop a comprehensive plan, including all aspects that contribute to the learning environment - buildings, infrastructure, teachers, curriculum, and community involvement. Along with this plan, there need to be standards developed that reflect both current and future systemic evolution. Since both plans and standards are dependent upon financial and human resources, a need exists to educate people about the impact of facilities and finance on learning. Deficits in one area of the region will eventually impact other entities through migration and competition for regional resources.
Develop Strategies to Maximize Current Funding and Secure Future Funding:
The region as a whole needs to develop strategies to request and secure funding.
Sources to investigate may include grants, local revenues to increase appropriations for education, the U.S. Congress, other programs and agencies of UNESCO, the United Nations, and foreign aid from other countries such as Australia and Japan. Plans and requests for funding should include proportional projected increases to reflect the growth of student populations to be served.
Efforts should also be made to investigate the possibility of extending U.S. federal funding for the Marshals and the Federated States of Micronesia.
At the local level, entities need to increase collaboration both on and off island by promoting economic development, parental involvement, business partnerships, and interagency cooperation. In addition, initiatives based on tax increases and/or local fund raising need to be explored.