Yesterday, the SHEFA board expressed its opposition to the bill of Rep. Raymond Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, who wants to appropriate 25 percent of SHEFA funds for the development of the Northern Marianas Trades Institute.
The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation is responsible for allocating funds for SHEFA from the poker license fee collections every year.
The board said it is not against the trade school which aims to prepare local residents to take jobs that will be vacated by nonresidents under the federalized immigration system, SHEFA board member Josephine T. Sablan said.
But the 25 percent cut amounts to $775,000 of the $3.1 million appropriation for SHEFA and is not realistic, board member John K. Tenorio said.
NMTI administration director Clare Ngirausui told the SHEFA board that the school will only get the 25 percent allocation for three years.
Palacios said the 25 percent cut will not continue after 2014.
Ngirausui said NMTI depends on donations and they need to construct additional classrooms.
But Mafnas said SHEFA has a program in place for NMTI students, and they even raised the scholarship award from $800 to $1,000 for each trade school student.
SHEFA administrator Henry Hofschneider noted that the U.S. registered apprenticeship training program could have helped local residents who wanted to learn trade skills but the government failed to implement it.
Among the provisions of the 1983 CNMI Nonresident Workers Act was the establishment of a fund for training residents so they can acquire the skills to replace nonresident workers in technical and professional fields, Variety learned.
Hofschneider said Northern Marianas College is now pursuing the U.S. registered apprenticeship training program as required by Public Law 15-15 enacted in April 2006.
In an earlier interview, Mafnas said if the 25 percent cut is approved the board has no choice but to make drastic reductions in its scholarship awards.
