Education extension bill vetoed

Semantics and the lack of a funding source doomed a bill that would have “extended” an already expired program for postsecondary teacher education.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta vetoed House Bill 14-205, which attempts to extend for another five years the Postsecondary Education Program, which expired on Sept. 3, 2004.

In his transmittal letter to the Legislature yesterday, Babauta said the bill must contain “a specific provision…that repeals and re-enacts the [program] in its entirety to be effective.”

He said this would not have been a problem if the bill was enacted prior to the September 2004 expiration of the program.

The bill, authored by House Education Committee chair Justo Quitugua, was introduced in July last year.

Babauta said the bill merely repeals and re-enacts 4 CMC Section 6103, which refers to the new reporting requirement and the sunset provision contained in the original measure.

“As such, to sign this measure into law would not accomplish the intended purpose of ensuring the re-establishment of the postsecondary education program, and would not revive those provisions of the expired law nor allow any students to avail themselves of the benefits of those expired provisions,” said Babauta.

The governor also cited that the bill lowers the students’ cumulative grade point average requirement from 3.0 to 2.75.

At the same time, the bill aims to increase the scholarship money from $15,000 to a level not exceeding $30,000 per student per school year.

Further, the bill eliminates scholarship program for graduates of off-island high schools.

Babauta said a primary goal of his administration “is to create educational excellence in the Commonwealth by ensuring the availability of financial assistance to all students who do extremely well in their academic performance.

Further, the governor said that inasmuch as he would like to sign the bill into law, it does not appropriate funds for the additional costs needed to implement the program.

If signed into law, he said, it would jeopardize the ongoing scholarship programs for current recipients, as the Scholarship Board would have to take at least $750,000 from the present program to finance the additional cost of the postsecondary education scholarship program.

The governor urged the Legislature to enact a subsequent legislation re-enacting the program and address the funding needs for the scholarship program.