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Quitugua waiting for PSS comments on teachers’ bill
Sen. Justo Quitugua (Ind-Saipan) is awaiting comments from the Public School System that he would integrate in a bill that proposes to allow PSS to hire non-U.S. citizens as teachers.
Quitugua, chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Youth Affairs, said he has already introduced Senate Bill 19-55, which seeks to help PSS address its shortage of teachers for certain courses or subjects including mathematics, science, engineering, and special education.
Currently, CNMI laws do not allow PSS to hire non-U.S. residents.
Quitugua explained that there was a statute way back banning the hiring of non-U.S. residents for government agencies, but due to a massive manpower shortage, particularly for PSS and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., he reintroduced a bill allowing the agencies to hire from outside.
“The bill had a sunset provision [of five years] to allow the agencies to train locals, but this provision also expired,” he said.
He said PSS is “having a hard time hiring for math, science, and special education teachers.”
Quitugua said the bill would allow CW workers or “anyone who has the qualifications” for these courses.
The lawmaker said S.B. 19-55 will be part of the agenda for tomorrow’s Senate session on Rota.
PSS supports the proposed legislation, with Education Commissioner Rita Sablan herself expressing support for the bill.
“PSS is always looking for highly qualified personnel. So when there’s a shortfall, we have to go beyond our parameters, and it seems that in the CNMI, we do not have the pool that we need,” Sablan said.
She added that the PSS “would like to have the ability to recruit from outside the U.S. territory or the U.S. mainland for that matter.”
“If there are qualified [teachers], we would like to invite them to work with PSS,” Sablan said.
