House taps $4.5M labor fees for PSS teacher program

The House of Representatives has passed a bill appropriating $4.5 million from new labor fees to match a federal grant for the Public School System teachers’ enhancement program.

The House approved House Bill 14-278, authored by Rep. Arnold I. Palacios which aims to help the PSS receive a $12-million annual Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program.

The grant, which would entitle PSS to a $4-million grant every year for three years—from Oct. 1, 2005 to Sept. 3, 2008—requires a 50-percent matching funds.

The PSS, in a letter to the Legislature, said it would be eligible to receive a $200,000 waiver in matching funds for each year, and that PSS is also prepared to provide $300,000 per year from its own budget. The remaining annual match of $1.5 million would come from the Legislature or the local government.

The entire program funds would amount to $17.4 million. It includes $12 million from the U.S. Department of Education, $900,000 from PSS, and $4.5 million from the CNMI government.

PSS said the grant is very crucial since it would help the PSS achieve its two long-term systemic student achievement goals: by 2008, 80 percent of all PSS students will be reading on or above their grade levels and by 2010, students will score at the 50th percentile or higher on the Stanford Achievement Test or SAT10.

The federal grant would essentially help PSS implement reform measures to enable teachers to acquire training and support needed to succeed in the classroom.

The program would include “performance-based compensation” for teachers, infusion of technology into teaching and student learning, mentorship by master teachers to new teachers, and “high-quality” professional development opportunities for new and veteran teachers.

House Education Committee chair Rep. Justo Quitugua said the bill initially wanted to tap 40 percent of revenues from the licensing of amusement machines, but the Department of Finance objected to this, citing that the funds have been appropriated for other projects.

The committee then proposed to use the additional $50 collected by the Department of Labor for each labor application for the teacher program.

The additional fee regulation has been implemented since July last year “and it has not been appropriated.”

The House said that, after the $4.5 million needed amount is collected, any more funds from the labor fee shall revert to the General Fund.

Lawmakers were earlier hesitant to tap the labor fee, citing a possible litigation on the matter. They said a business group had raised legal concerns about the new regulations.