GCC asks for free reign on appropriations

by Krystal Paco

Guam - It's a series of conversations headed by Senator Aline Yamashita intended to open lines of communication between Adelup, the Guam Legislature, and education officials.

From automotive to nursing to culinary arts, for years the Guam Community College has provided career and technical education to thousands of the island's high school students. But that could change if funds run dry especially since 15% of GCC's budget sits in reserve, in line with Governor Eddie Calvo's directive for all of GovGuam. "It doesn't hurt to ask at some point we would like to have free reign over the GCC appropriations and not be subject to the reserve because that has caused difficulty at the college primarily because we're servicing two environments secondary and post secondary, right now the general fund is 100% personnel," said GCC president Mary Okada.

She says the school can't afford to cover such costs, especially with the anticipated Okkodo High School expansion set for completion in 2014. Okada says all career and tech education programs in the high schools are captured in GCC's budget - not the Department of Education's. "We do understand that Okkodo is slated to have the ProStart Culinary Program and the nursing program at Okkodo; however unless we get Title V and Title V is under the consolidated grants under the Department of Education we will not be able to add that to our plate. When Okkodo was first built the college agreed that for the period of August through September 30 we would cover the cost to hire those faculty members, and provide the equipment that was necessary that was not provided elsewhere," she explained.

With this news, the governor's education advisor Vince Leon Guerrero admits this has been an oversight. "If we added an additional high school as up central north as people want to do whether it's at Tiyan or up anywhere a new high school would require (if they want secondary career tech education there)," Leon Guerrero added.

GCC assistant director for communications and promotions Jayne Flores confirms 45 GCC faculty serve in the island's high schools.

Senator Aline Yamashita has requested Okada submit the number of faculty needed in line with the Okkodo High School expansion.