Maratita,, in her communication to House Floor Leader Joseph Camacho, R-Saipan, said PSS should be given flexibility in hiring personnel.
The law allows only retired classroom teachers to be rehired by PSS and “double dip” for two years.
PSS wants the same privilege granted to its administrators and managers.
Double-dipping is when a retired government employee is re-hired and allowed to receive a salary while collecting his retirement pension.
Blanco-Maratita also asked the Legislature to create new scholarship programs.
“(We need to) provide additional incentives for those in special education studies, and provide scholarships for advanced degrees as we need the added training rather than not providing any assistance beyond a bachelor’s degree,” she said.
She added, “If someone wants to go into cosmetology (or the like), then by all means, they should have that freedom, but we should not fund it as those funds are perhaps better used in other critical need areas such as education and health professionals.”
She said lawmakers should also provide BOE with the “flexibility” to determine the salaries of PSS personnel.
“To remove the salary caps for [some] critical areas is desirable so that PSS can be more competitive in the hiring arena,” she added.
Existing law sets the government salary cap at $50,000, but allow the governor to exempt certain positions.
