PSS has done its fair share on PRAXIS

PSS has indeed done its fair share help teachers pass PRAXIS. I want to personally express my thanks to the Commissioner and her Deputy COE, Dr. David Borja, on behalf of all teachers for coming up with a real plan to help the teachers who truly want to pass the PRAXIS test, as we did not have a certification test.

While cost had posed a problem, the COE and her staff were able to find a way for teachers to attend training sessions and be paid for learning how to pass the test. In fact, the pay for learning to pass PRAXIS is enough for teachers to actually use the training money to pay for the test and still put several hundred dollars in their pockets. It won’t get any better than that, teachers, so please take advantage of this if you are not sure about your competency in passing the test. The Summer Training will begin July 11 at Saipan Southern High School.

I’m also glad to see the Legislature responding to the request I made for PSS’ budget to separated from the rest of the government’s budget, given the fact that PSS has the largest budget in our government. I am glad to see that education may be eliminated from the politics that exist between the two houses and the governor.

Hopefully, by separating the PSS budget, it will become law and thank you Legislature for trying to resolve the budget woes at PSS. Without being facetious, I also want to point out the fact that I was the first to publicly propose the idea for change in budgeting for PSS and my mother taught me that if I don’t toot my own horn, obviously no one is going to do it for me.

On another matter, I would also like to thank the Senate, especially Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano, for changing the bill and giving all the unclaimed lottery funds to the public school teachers, especially when the Scholarship fund has funding sources and we are only getting a less-than-29-percent return on the money given to the Scholarship fund. The money given to teachers will have an immediate and direct impact on the learning experiences of our children. Thank you Senators and I hope the House of Representatives will apply the same wisdom and pass the bill so teachers can access to this money at the beginning of this school year.

Ambrose Bennett
Teacher Representative