Governance and commonsense

The general public, teachers, the Board and the Governor need to come to the same realization that our education system as a whole IS NOT being “governed” properly, which is the reason our children have struggled for the past three decades to be academically equivalent to their counterparts on the mainland. The first step to solving the mystery of “catching up” to the national average is to address the very system governing the day-to-day operation and the plans for growth. There is NO state level governance system for the entire CNMI because NMC and PSS are totally separate and NO one is governing over the private schools.

The lack of governance is why I have been pushing for a Secretary of Education position over the past three years to be created if we truly want to build an education industry and achieve a university level of education in the CNMI, which should be our goal for education and that’s common sense. We need a conduit that will connect the efforts of the Executive, the Legislature, the private and public schools in addressing the needs and plans for education in the CNMI and the Secretary of Education post is a proven methodology. During the formative years of the CNMI there was no need for a leader over the entire education system, however, the CNMI has clearly grown and become of age that we must extend the capacity and quality of our education system and that’s common knowledge.

A Secretary of Education or state comptroller (compliance controller) is certainly a position that history has taught us we MUST eventually create sooner or later given the “La Fiesta Affair” and other education blunders. But for the purposes of this exercise in common sense is to address the governance of our Public School System. I’m sure everyone with common sense will agree that “every part of our government must be governed, with checks and balances being ultimately held accountable to the PEOPLE. The first question that must be asked is “where are the checks and balances on the Board of Education?” The Board has done a diligent job of placing a check on staff, teachers and even the COE but where is the check on the Board’s decisions?

I’m sure some Board member will say how all the policies are sent to the AG and the public is given the opportunity to comment before they become law and that all general Board meetings offer an opportunity for public input. All of this is great for “input” but what about the final “outcome” that proves to be unsatisfactory to the stakeholders in the PSS? There is virtually nothing we (the people) can do short of a formal petition to remove the Board, which is highly unlikely. The general public CANNOT place a daily check on the Board and can hold the Board accountable every four years if they are dissatisfied with all the Board members. The Constitution has also protected the Board from the governor and the Legislature by making PSS autonomous.

So, if education is this “sacred government entity” and if the people within the system are truly a family and if this family is suppose to function as a team, then why can’t teachers & staff pace a daily check on the Board to place the long over due and badly needed check on the leaders of our education system? Teamwork is SUSPOSE to be a “reciprocal phenomena” but messages are only traveling ONE WAY from the top down when it comes to our Public School System that is still operating under the 19th century model of leadership. The different branches of our government automatically check each other but there is nothing and no one placing a check on the autonomous entities of the Board of Education and Board of Regents. This is not to say PSS and NMC have been doing horrible but to say the CNMI CAN DO MUCH MUCH BETTER because I witnessed it live and in living color. But its not so much about the money, as some may think, as it is about going beyond the preferences of a particular agency and creating better policies and policies that create genuine partnerships to achieve a common goal for the entire CNMI—we call it GOVERNING!

But governing is useless without a proper governing system. Teachers and the general public have been yelling at the Board for years and we can’t even get regular Board meetings when the community can attend. I’m sure people can also remember the many rifts between the Government and Education officials and they still loom over us today. The Board and governor are yelling at each other, the Legislature yells at the Board and the Board yells back, and the people are just yelling at everyone and NO ONE ends up getting what they wanted— duh! These conditions exist and will continue to exist until we (the CNMI) establish a genuine governance system over education. The institution of Commissioners to oversea the introduction of education facilities falls short of the need and is a bit “over kill” politically but it is a step in the right direction.