It appears that the superintendent of Catholic education joins some charter schools in not supporting a bill that will mandate all teachers employed at Guam charter schools to receive the same certification as Guam Department of Education instructors.

Bill 161 was proposed by Senator Amanda Shelton on behalf of the Guam Youth Congress, which would require all teachers employed at Guam Charter Schools to be certified by the Guam Commission on Educator Certification. The original charter school law allows them the freedom from the regulations that govern traditional public schools currently.

Dr. Juan Flores, superintendent of Catholic education, weighed-in on the bill. He said in an interview on The Link that he does not support the piece of legislation, announcing, "There's no doubt that certification assures that there are some supports for making sure that teachers in the schools have the background, the knowledge and skills to be teachers. But I have to tell you that many of the teachers in the catholic schools are not certified and yet we still have students being successful in the Catholic schools."

Dr. Flores continued with his concerns by stating, "With most of the research in the introduction of the legislature referred to information provided is from the 1990's. Some of that research might be out of date because that was when charter schools were first starting."

He suggested that the bill should be reviewed and looked into.

"Is there actual data showing the certification of teachers in charter schools is a contributing factor to the success of the students at the schools? Because that's the bottom line. And can charter school students continue to perform at least at the same level as other public school students even if the teachers are not certified," said Flores.

Recently, Guahan Academy Charter School and iLearn Academy Charter School voiced that they are not in full agreement with the bill for a number of reasons. Some of the concerns are, certification will be cost prohibitive, charter schools will not be able to pay certified teachers accordingly and it may affect their hiring authority.