RETIRED educator Ambrose M. Bennett on Friday urged the members of the House Education Committee to support legislation mandating a “workforce transition plan.”
Bennett spoke to the committee members during their meeting. Present were the committee chair, Rep. Leila Fleming Staffler, the vice chair, Rep. Sheila Babauta, and the members, Reps. Ralph N. Yumul, Denita Yangetmai and Donald Manglona.
Bennett asked them to “take a real step forward and devise a ‘system-wide plan’ by law that can be accountable for all the employers and CNMI-only Transitional Worker or CW jobs whether the positions are filled or not, and all the students and adults in the private sector who can potentially replace the CWs.”
He said he has been trying to “impress this upon the powers-that-be” but “it seems some stakeholders are hesitant to commit to a single plan as they are doing their own individual thing.”
Bennett said apprenticeship programs are “great” but many of the CW jobs do not require apprenticeship training “and there is no accountability.”
“It is actually lackadaisical governing to not address the need for a system-wide plan,” he added.
Bennett said assuming that the Public School System, Northern Marianas College and the Northern Marianas Technical Institute are doing enough is a “deadly mistake that will surely lead to the federal government taking over the CNMI’s workforce transition.”
He said PSS, NMC and NMTI cannot lead and cannot be held responsible for what is supposed to be a system-wide transition by the CNMI government.
“My efforts are not being fully respected and embraced by the stakeholders which is why I am strongly recommending that this committee follow the advice given to me in a meeting at PSS by the previous Board of Education chair who has said: ‘Your idea is really great but if you want to bring everyone together to transition our workforce, then get a law passed and even then, it might still be a challenge.’ ”
Bennett said a transition plan mandated by law is the CNMI’s best hope to avoid “another federal takeover.”
He said, “We also know we can’t do without the CWs but the CNMI must justify keeping the CW workers come 2029 which is something neither PSS, NMC, NMTI nor the CNMI government is doing.”
In July 2018, then-President Donald Trump signed into law a bill passed by the U.S. Congress to extend the federal CW program through Dec. 31, 2029.
“We are setting the CNMI up for failure again when it can be avoided,” Bennett told the House Education Committee on Friday.
He added that if the federal government would do the transition, its methodology “surely won’t be as friendly to the stakeholders as we can be with ourselves.”
Bennett said his idea of a workforce transition plan “is researched-based, tried and a proven successful plan that has been in operation since 1993.”
“I respectfully ask this committee, if not me, who will offer a plan and if not now, when will a plan be developed?”
Retired teacher Ambrose Bennett speaks before the House Education Committee on Friday.
