~Minister says Cg. 71 million goes to subsidized education while staffing shortages, teacher recruitment and rising reconstruction costs remain major risks~
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Melissa Gumbs has laid bare the financial reality confronting her ministry in 2026: ECYS has a proposed Cg. 125.97 million budget, but much of that money is already committed, leaving Government with limited room to address education reform, staffing shortages and other pressing needs.
Presenting the ECYS budget to Parliament on Thursday, Gumbs said the proposed allocation represents an increase of Cg. 3.51 million, or 2.87 percent, compared with 2025. She explained that the increase is driven primarily by indexation and vacation-pay adjustments for teachers and other ECYS personnel.
Education remains by far the ministry's biggest financial responsibility.
According to Gumbs, Cg. 77.5 million is allocated to education, mostly for subsidized education, while approximately Cg. 22 million is allocated to public education.
But the deeper breakdown shows just how constrained the ministry is.
Gumbs told Parliament that Cg. 71,050,749 is being spent on subsidized education. That leaves Cg. 6,449,251 from the broader education allocation to support education reform, access to quality education, student transportation, higher-education opportunities and efforts to improve learning outcomes.
Even that figure overstates what is freely available because, according to the minister, it does not account for salaries within the Department of Education.
"In truth," Gumbs said, the amount actually earmarked to support those initiatives is therefore lower.
Where the education money goes
For the first time in her presentation, Gumbs laid out individual 2026 allocations across the education sector.
Public education receives approximately Cg. 22 million. The Foundation for Catholic Education is allocated Cg. 15.2 million; SOAB, covering MPC and Sundial, Cg. 18 million; FAVE, covering St. Maarten Academy and Academy PSVE, Cg. 11.2 million; Hillside Christian Schools Cg. 5.7 million; MAC Cg. 9.6 million; Seventh-Day Adventist School Cg. 3 million; University of St. Martin Cg. 2 million; NIPA Cg. 3.7 million; and Charlotte Brookson Academy Cg. 2.2 million for 2026.
Gumbs said she presented the figures to demonstrate how much of the ministry's budget is already allocated, leaving what she described as "little wiggle room."
The subsidy is not limited to teacher salaries. According to the minister, it covers principals, teachers and other personnel, allowances and benefits, pension contributions, professional development, recruitment, social workers, classroom assistants, ICT coordinators, school buildings, furniture, educational materials, utilities, cleaning and maintenance, among other costs.
66 ECYS positions unfilled
The budget presentation also revealed a significant staffing gap inside ECYS.
The ministry has 347 possible positions, of which 281 are filled, resulting in an occupancy rate of 81 percent.
That means 66 positions remain unfilled.
Personnel costs have increased approximately 5.5 percent to Cg. 31.45 million, driven mainly by indexation as well as allocations for critical vacancies. Gumbs said an HR consultant has been engaged to focus specifically on critical vacancies and pending personnel matters.
The minister identified staffing shortages — including recruiting public-school teachers — as among ECYS' major risks. She also pointed to budget pressure in youth and sports and inflation affecting reconstruction projects and procurement in public education.
School and sports reconstruction stretches into 2027
Major physical infrastructure work will also extend well beyond the current budget year.
Gumbs said the Emergency Recovery Project is shifting from classroom repairs to repairing and upgrading physical-education facilities.
The programme includes demolition of MPC's old gym and construction of a replacement, reconstruction of Sundial's gym and work involving the Prince Willem Alexander School, Hillside Christian Schools, Seventh-Day Adventist School, St. Maarten Academy, Academy PSVE, Sister Magda Primary School, Sister Regina Primary School and the MAC Browlia F. Maillard Campus.
Community and sports facilities are also included.
However, Gumbs told Parliament that the full scope is expected to be completed only around September-October 2027, although some community basketball courts are expected to be delivered earlier.
That timeline is particularly significant at the beginning of another school year, as questions about the physical state of schools and sporting facilities remain firmly on the public agenda.
The minister's own numbers therefore expose the central challenge confronting ECYS: Cg. 125.97 million sounds substantial, but once salaries, subsidies, transportation, scholarships and existing obligations are accounted for, the ministry has considerably less flexibility than the headline figure suggests.
And while the Government is promising education reform, artificial intelligence, STEAM education, curriculum modernization, and reconstructed facilities, it must simultaneously deal with teacher shortages, vacancies, inflation, and projects stretching into 2027.