Lessons Learned

I’ve learned a few lessons about educational administration during my time in the Marshall Islands. Some of these lessons I will share with you in person if you ask. But two that I’ll publicly voice regard efficiently administering the education budget.


WORKSHOP OVERLOAD

A workshop or conference can be useful if you learn a new skill and then apply it, or meet new people that will potentially help you be more successful at your job. But if I told you how much time people at the Ministry of Education spend on workshops and conferences, you would think it’s irresponsible.

If I told you how much money all that traveling costs (since a lot of conferences are in Hawaii, Fiji or Guam), then you would be abhorred.

I would never even consider telling you what percentage of the total education budget is spent on travel, workshops and conferences. Your health is too important to me.

Lesson: Ministry staff should quit traveling so much while the RMI’s children are in lousy schools.

Less talk – more chalk.


MY STAB AT EFFICIENCY

My Masters project here in the Marshalls was to compare the cost-effectiveness between three approaches to printing Marshallese curriculum materials. I have unequivocally found that the efficient choice is to off-shore printing to a publisher or print shop. A Ministry run print shop would attain no economies of scale – and paper and ink can drive costs way up. Over a ten year period, including shipping costs to Majuro, the MOE would save close to $400,000 by printing books through a publisher in Canada.

How much did my study cost?

I devoted the equivalent of about 3 months of full time work to this project. My salary was simply housing and utilities, since this was to fulfill my Masters degree, but even a paid consultant wouldn’t cost 20% of that $400,000 value. So my advice to the MOE would be, if you want to save money, hire somebody (full-time) to economically test different approaches to expensive programs and then streamline the expenses. This will also bring accountability to the budgetary decision-making process.

The Ministry’s budget will be decreasing over the next 15 years because the US will decrease its aid by $100,000 each year until the end of the Compact of Free Association in 2023. The Marshall Islands spends the most money on education per capita in the Pacific islands, but has some of the lowest test scores.

Lesson: The Ministry of Education should take more stabs at efficiency.


P.S.
If you would like a copy of my Masters paper on printing Marshallese curriculum materials, please request by e-mail.