School year 2025-2026 funding is 70 mil, tied to improving literacy and numeracy

GREAT BAY--The Government of St. Maarten approved Xcg 70,951,782.93 in education funding for the 2025–2026 academic year for the various school boards, and tied that support to a significant policy addition/requirement that every school board integrates a dedicated literacy and numeracy strategy into its school development plan.

Boards must include a chapter or an appendix that sets out how each school will improve reading, writing, and mathematics outcomes, identify learning gaps, outline interventions, and describe how progress will be monitored during the 2025–2026 cycle.

The allocations are as follows: Charlotte Brookson Academy, XCG 2,246,094.84; Methodist Agogic Centre, XCG 9,683,197.04; Foundation for Academic and Vocational Education, FAVE, XCG 11,249,612.56; National Institute for Professional Advancement, NIPA, XCG 3,649,956.53; Foundation for Protestant Christian Education, XCG 5,719,524.77; St. Maarten Seventh Day Adventist Education Foundation, XCG 3,062,269.89; Stichting Voortgezet Onderwijs Bovenwindse Eilanden, SVOBE, XCG 18,049,724.27; University of St. Martin, XCG 1,997,343.88; Foundation Catholic Education St. Maarten, XCG 15,294,059.15.

This moves the literacy and numeracy agenda from broad intent to an enforceable planning duty linked to funding, and it creates a paper trail that allows the Ministry and the Division of Inspection to track whether schools are putting concrete actions in place, for example targeted support blocks, diagnostic testing schedules, teacher coaching cycles, and midyear reviews.

The requirement align directly with Minister of ECYS Melissa Gumbs’ stated priorities for the system; the Ministry has framed these obligations as the mechanism to turn intention into practice across classrooms, assessments, and teacher support. As the Minister put it a few weeks go, “As a Ministry, improving literacy and numeracy will continue to be our focus. We will develop strategies to be implemented across all primary schools, ensuring that this solid foundation carries forward into our secondary schools. We are committed to continuous improvement and to ensuring that every student and teacher will have access to the tools they need to succeed.” While acknowledging gaps in the education system, she emphasized shared responsibility for learning culture: “Combating illiteracy is a community effort. We must work together, schools, families, and the wider society, to make reading a part of everyday life.”

Collaboration with quality inspections is also formalized. School boards are required to work with all inspections and assessments under the Ministry’s School Assessment Frameworks, engage actively with the Division of Inspection, and facilitate access to the evidence needed to evaluate school quality. In practice this means timely submission of data, internal exam analyses shared on request, classroom observations coordinated with school leaders, and corrective action plans that respond to inspection findings within set timelines. The obligation establishes a continuous improvement loop, not a one-off audit.

Additionally, funded schools must adjust expulsion guidelines to reduce exclusion and protect student learning, including consultation with other schools to seek alternative placements when expulsion is the preferred course. Boards have a deadline to present the revised guidelines by April 2026, with implementation during 2025–2026, and a standing duty to provide alternative educational opportunities wherever possible. The expectation is that schools will map options such as transfers, short-term intervention programs, part-time arrangements, or supervised online coursework, and document the steps taken before removal is considered.

Several other existing conditions remain in force, most notably the school fee requirement. The yearly parental or school contribution stays voluntary, and schools are prohibited from withholding required textbooks or report cards for non-payment. Boards continue to carry standard responsibilities such as timely reporting to the Division of Inspection, pension premium payments to the General Pension Fund, and the submission and periodic updating of school development plans.

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