A Senate bill that would establish the Northern Marianas Technical Institute as a public charter school conflicts with the CNMI Constitution, duplicates the Northern Marianas College\u2019s responsibilities, and refers to \u201cpostsecondary degrees\u201d that should be reserved for the college, according to NMC president Dr. Sharon Hart in comments she submitted to the House last week.<\/p>\n
The House referred Senate Bill 18-72 bill to committee during their session last week. The bill would establish NMTI as an \u201cadult vocational and continuing education charter school.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the college has stated it supports NMTI\u2019s goals, it took issue with how the bill \u201cdilutes the mandates set forth\u201d by the CNMI Constitution.<\/p>\n
According to the Constitution, the college \u201cshall be responsible for providing education in the areas of adult and continuing education, postsecondary and adult vocational education and professional development.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill\u2019s proposal to create a school that runs \u201cadult secondary and postsecondary education programs\u201d would infringe on the mandates that the college was established on, according to Hart.<\/p>\n
The bill gives NMTI\u2019s board the ability to offer \u201cacademic courses,\u201d issue \u201cadult high school diplomas\u201d and \u201cpostsecondary education degrees.\u201d But these functions are already performed by NMC, Hart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bill provides no clear explanation or definition of how the functions of [NMTI] would be different from those of the Northern Marianas College,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only is the overlap going to create confusion and inefficiency, but creating another public entity with similar functions will dilute the limited funds that are available for appropriation to the college,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hart said the bill\u2019s intention could be satisfied by defining the charter school as a \u201cnot-for-profit public vocational school\u201d as opposed to a \u201cnot-for-profit postsecondary school and removing references throughout the bill to postsecondary education, degrees, and diplomas.<\/p>\n
Hart was also concerned about a section of the bill that would establish the NMTI as the Board of Control for funding through the United States Vocational Education Act, also now referred to as the Perkins Act.<\/p>\n
This would give NMTI board control over Perkins funding to the Commonwealth, Hart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that the Legislature will clearly carve out a niche for NMTI that does not duplicate the efforts of PSS or Northern Marianas College,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n
When asked about the bill yesterday, Board of Education chair Herman T. Guerrero said he has yet to review it.<\/p>\n
NMC has been previously criticized for not pursuing vocational education as part of its goals to develop the workforce. Saipan Tribune learned that in 2006 Public Law 15-5 authorized NMC to establish the United States Registered Apprenticeship Training program, but since then no program has materialized reportedly due to lack of funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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