THE chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education and Welfare yesterday expressed support for the administration’s Educational Excellence Initiative.
“I have been supporting the governor all along and I will continue to support him,” Sen. Ricardo S. Atalig, R-Rota, said.
House Education Committee Chairman Danny O. Quitugua, R-Rota, earlier said he would introduce the four pieces of education reform legislation drafted by the administration.
These are House Bill 13-140, the Teachers Resources and Respect Act of 2002; H.B. 13-141, the Public Charter Schools Act of 2002; H.B. 13-142, the Educational Creativity and Reform Act of 2002; and H.B. 13-143, the Universal Kindergarten Act of 2000.
“We need to support these bills. We have been dealing with the problems of illiteracy and lack of skilled workers in the CNMI for a long time now but not a lot has been done about these problems,” said Quitugua, a former chairman of the Board of Education.
He urged his fellow lawmakers to join in the discussions and suggest how to further improve the proposals.
‘BOE was consulted’
In related news, the governor’s senior policy advisor Robert Schwalbach said yesterday that the Board of Education was consulted when the administration was still preparing its education initiative.
Schwalbach was reacting to BOE Chairman Herman T. Guerrero who expressed disappointed over the administration’s failure to seek BOE’s participation in the presentation of the education reform proposals.
“We are trying to work hand in hand with them in the implementation of these proposals. As a matter of fact, some of their provisions cam from the board,” Schwalbach told Variety.
