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Senator introduced similar bill allowing PSS to hire foreigners
A saipan Senator noted that he has introduced a similar bill after a House bill that seeks to allow the Public School System is referred to his committee.
Sen. Justo Quitugua (Ind-Saipan) noted in his comments for Saipan Tribune regarding Rep. Edwin Aldan’s (R-Tinian) House Bill 20-130, which seeks to allow PSS to hire foreign STEM teachers. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
Quitugua noted that his bill, Senate Bill 19-55, was introduced in the 19th Legislature and received unanimous Senate support at the time, however the 19th House of Representatives did not act on it.
“Now the same bill was introduced and passed by the House as H.B. 20-130, HD1 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Education and Youth Affairs,” he said, adding that PSS and the Board of Education requested for such a bill. Quitugua is also the current chair of the Senate Education Committee.
Saipan Tribune learned of the duplicate bill after the Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion on H.B. 20-130, as per the request of Quitugua’s committee. Attorney General Edward Manibusan opined that H.B. 20-130, which seeks to repeal and reenact 3 CMC Sec. 2972 (b) (1) was “legally sufficient.”
The same law also disallows PSS to hire non-foreign teachers.
“…This new legislation will repeal and reenact the aforementioned statute. If this bill becomes law, PSS shall exhaust all efforts in recruiting U.S. citizen and qualified green card holders before attempting to hire non-U.S. or green card holders,” Quitugua told Saipan Tribune.
Quitugua noted that STEM is an unconventional means to teach science, technology, engineering, and math. Due to its correlation to one another, PSS, according to Quitugua integrates the subjects into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world application.
“What separates STEM from the traditional science and math education is the blended learning environment,” said Quitugua, who is a former teacher. “Students practice computational thinking and focus om the real-world applications of problem solving,” he added.
The committee will discuss H.B. 20-130 in a future meeting.
