Tenorio left the House chamber before the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation adopted the resolution by a voice vote.
Authored by Rep. Tony P. Sablan, R-Saipan, SNILD Resolution 17-04 seeks to endorse the Public School System’s plan to build a new junior high school in Koblerville and request OIA to allow the commonwealth to use CIP monies for the project.
This federal funding was also mentioned by Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan during his inauguration last month as he pointed out the need to address the overcrowding of students at Hopwood Junior High School.
PSS said Koblerville Junior High School, once built, will accommodate 600 students.
During the discussion on the resolution, Tenorio noted that the Legislature could simply appropriate the money.
The former governor said he supports the idea of using CIP money for government projects but he does not believe they need a resolution that asks OIA for funds.
“I can understand that we can pass resolutions for something on any issue, but just to honor somebody. But when asking for something through a resolution, forget it,” he said.
Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, agreed with Tenorio. He said if the funding is provided by the islands’ Covenant with the U.S., then, “we don’t have to ask OIA for the authority to use the money.”
The resolution, he said, was not only unnecessary, but was also inappropriate.
The delegation chairman, Republican Rep. Ray A. Tebuteb, in a separate interview, said Tenorio was correct but “I know he will change his mind.”
New school is costly
Tenorio said that if the CNMI is really in dire need of a new school, he would be the one to introduce the bill to appropriate the CIP funding for that.
But once the new school is done, he asked, “where are going to get the money to operate it? Where are we going to get the money to pay additional teachers?”
He said the revenue projection is declining and the need to lay off government employees is now imminent. It’s good to build new schools, he said, “but we also have to think about what we are going to do after we build them.”
Tenorio also said he doubts if Saipan will really be in dire need of a new school.
The population, he added, is going down.
He finds it amazing that they should be thinking of building a new school when the number of students is expected to decrease.
