Guam Superintendent Judith Won Pat told senators that a proposal to change the Board of Education from an elected body to an appointed board “eliminates the public’s participation in determining the board’s composition.”
Won Pat, who as a senator helped write the law that set up the current board structure, testified on Bill 286-38 during a public hearing Wednesday afternoon. The measure, introduced by education committee chair Sen. Vincent Borja, reduces the number of voting members on the board from nine to seven.
Of the seven, four would be appointed by the governor, two would be appointed by the speaker of the legislature and one would be selected by the other Board of Education members.
Currently, six of nine voting members of the board are elected by the public, and three are appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature.
The changes are being proposed because senators “have heard the same concerns again and again,” Borja said.
“Parents are frustrated by the lack of answers. Teachers feel unheard, unsupported and in some cases, afraid to speak openly. School administrators are trying to keep campuses running while dealing with policies that do not always match the reality on the ground.”
He said an appointed board creates “a clear line of accountability.”
Under the bill, the chair of the legislature’s education committee would be a non-voting member of the board.
While much of the testimony was supportive of the change, Won Pat said, “there are some ethical and legal issues with Bill 286-38.” She said the Organic Act gives the executive branch – not the legislature - authority over the Department of Education, which is not an autonomous agency.
The bill “proposes a completely new and untested paradigm shift … by enabling the legislature itself to appoint voting members, and by authorizing the legislature itself to have a permanent direct seat on the board,” she said.
“The overhaul being proposed in this bill is simply not legal or productive to GDOE’s operations," she said.
Borja said that, as chair for the last year and a half, he has never seen the Board of Education take responsibility for issues in the department.
“I’ve seen employees at a board meeting get humiliated or attacked,” Borja said. “If a board member can publicly, on the record, attack employees, why would an employee want to speak up?”
“This is not to say, ‘You suck. Quit,’” Borja said. “I’m saying this is a cry for help.”
