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PSS to use CW fees to reimburse CTE personnel, supplies
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Posted on Mar 13 2012
By Moneth Deposa
Reporter
Reporter
The State Board of Education has approved using the Public School System’s share of the Commonwealth workers’ fee collected by the government from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to pay the salaries of career technological education teachers this school year and to subsidize materials for the program.
Based on the CNMI budget law for fiscal year 2013, the school system will get $500,000 of the $1.8 million in CW fees that will be collected from nonresident workers.
Documents requested from the BOE show that 20 employees are with the CTE programs: 18 classroom teachers, one instructor, and one coordinator. A budget summary of the program showed that the 20 positions will cost $883,996, including benefits and insurance.
For the entire CTE program, the board adopted a budget of $1.5 million, broken down into $883,996 for personnel; $495,204 for travel; and $193,024 for equipment.
The per-school allocation for CTE programs is:
– Chacha Oceanview Junior High School, $51,897;
– Hopwood Junior High School, $103,137;
– Rita Hocog Inos Junior High School, $25,118;
– Tinian Junior/Senior High School, $21,703;
– Kagman High School, $137,017;
– Rota High School, $5,904; and
– Marianas High School, $181,000.
At a recent meeting, board member Galvin Deleon Guerrero expressed concern about the system’s ability to track the effectiveness of the CTE programs.
“The CW revenue is really intended to help transition the CNMI into federal labor force. I know we have standard-based assessments but I think we need to begin demonstrating how effective our program is in terms of actual job placement,” he said.
Deleon Guerrero said that PSS and the board should also conduct other assessments such as actual workforce readiness, workforce effectiveness assessment, employer’s satisfaction survey, and job retention, among others, to gauge the effectiveness of these vocational and technical programs.
The CNMI government is mandated to phase out its nonresident worker program by 2014 and phase in the federal employment system. CTE programs, according to board members, play a pivotal role in achieving this mission.
