by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Subscribe to Clynt's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

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It appears there's another attempt to give the governor more power over the Guam Public School System. A bill introduced has been introduced in the 29th Guam Legislature by a freshman policymaker that would create what its author calls a "hybrid school board". Explained Senator Frank Ishizaki, "I think you've heard a lot of complaints about the current structure of the board and some of the problems we're having in the School System, the proposition has been thrown around for awhile that maybe we need to revisit the current composition of the Policy Board. It's an attempt to throw it out there so we can discuss it."

According to current Guam Education Policy Board chairperson Joe San Agustin, giving the governor to power to appoint these four members really doesn't make sense since they appoint members to the board from within their respective organizations. He said, "Basically, by allowing the governor to appoint he's going to appoint a student rep, the students are electing their representatives, the parent teacher organizations, they're electing their representative. We've asked for a Chamber of Commerce representative; they're identifying somebody and we're accepting them. The Guam Federation of Teachers, based on the way it's setup today, is that they give us three nominees and we get to select between the three."

Bill 293 also restores the governor's power to appoint a superintendent of education. The Republican lawmaker saying it restores accountability of the Guam Public School System back to the Executive Branch of the Government of Guam. Said Ishizaki, "I've heard the complaints from the governor that he's got no input in who the super is, he's got no control over the budget. And in years past as the Department of Education, the governor had a lot of authority over education he still has the responsibility, but he's got no authority."

San Agustin, however, feels the bill is a bit premature, saying he feels the board has been doing a good job demanding more accountability and more transparency at GPSS, and questions whether there could be other motivations behind the bill's introduction. "Politically speaking, you're looking at 4,000 votes," he surmised. "You pick the right man in the right position, you're looking at 4,000 votes; when you're looking at the board composition we're only looking at taking care of children. And moving forward, I would hope that changing the composition of the board is not a political move, because if it is there up for one hell of a battle come November."