They discussed House Local Bill 17-38 which proposes to allocate, for three years, 25 percent of the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance program funding for NMTI.
The mayor opposes the measure which was introduced by Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, who attended the meeting with the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation chairman, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb.
Pellegrino said Flores’s stance contradicted the mayor’s earlier commitment to NMTI.
Pellegrino reminded the mayor about his promise to help assist the trade school by allocating 25 percent of SHEFA fund.
But Flores said he was referring to an increase in SHEFA assistance to NMTI students.
Currently, SHEFA is assisting qualified NMTI students who each gets a $1,000 grant. The amount used to be $800.
Citing the current financial situation of the CNMI government, Tebuted, R-Saipan, said they would try to accommodate the “most immediate” needs of NMTI.
NMTI school administrator Vic Cepeda said they need $50,000 a month to increase the number of class hours every week and upgrade their equipment.
Tebuteb said the SHEFA funds are intended for the scholarship program and not for school equipment.
All agreed that they should explore more avenues to find funds for the trade school.
Flores asked if lawmakers can tap labor fees, saying it is just a matter of “legislative action” to allocate funds.
SHEFA administration Henry Hofschneider said every year, the number of students availing of the scholarship program is increasing.
He indicated that NMTI students may not stay and work in the CNMI after graduating from the trade school.
Palacios, for his part, is urging the business community to help assist the trade school.
He said they are looking into the Workforce Investment Act, the Public School System and the Nutrition Assistance Program as possible funding sources.
Before the meeting started, Palacios admitted that he didn’t believe his colleagues would support his bill because “they don’t want to get the blame from the students.”
He said his bill has been referred to committee since it lacked five signatures to be placed on the session calendar.
Palacios said he wants to help NMTI so it can prepare the CNMI when nonresident workers exit the islands by 2014 as required by the federalization law.
Allotting 25 percent of SHEFA funds to support a privately owned trade school will have a great and predictable impact on the scholarship program, Flores said in his comments regarding the bill.
“We say ‘predictable’ because we know the reduction in funding the bill will ultimately resonate into the checkbooks of the hundreds of students,” he added.
The students depend on SHEFA assistance to pay portion of the cost of getting a college education, the mayor said.
Palacios said a total of $775,000 will go to the trade school for three consecutive years only.
But the mayor said “the effect of a three-year earmarking period is more than enough to drag a program of helping students finish college.”
He added, “This is something we should all avoid if we expect to see our college students return home quickly for employment.”
He said the cost of getting a college education will not remain stagnant.
“It will continue on an incline track as some colleges and universities across the nation propose tuition and fees increase,” he added.
“We should not use the easiest way out to make sacrifices, something we believe the bill is attempting to do,” he said.
“This kind of decision-making only assures a retrograde status, and that is not what we should be advocating.”
SHEFA board chairman Jose Mafnas, who also opposes the bill, said the program is already assisting qualified NMTI students who each gets $1,000 in grants.
SHEFA gets its funding from poker fee collections, which have been declining over the years.
