Education officials discuss right-sizing Education Department headquarters to meet CBA requirements

Conversations on the Guam Department of Education’s budget woes continue between education officials as big decisions on what to prioritize and cut loom. 

“We tried to do an analysis of what it would take to fill all the collective bargaining agreement positions—but we can’t fill that,” said GDOE Deputy Superintendent of Finance and Administration, Morgan “Wade” Borja Paul.

And while the Guam Education Board maintains filling collective bargaining agreement positions remains a priority, GDOE’s tight budget crunch is only underscored through half-funded utilities for the Fiscal Year 2025 and the need to choose between critical contracts. 

“What contracts do I cut? Do I cut the grass-cutting? Do I cut the cleaning in order to hire these positions?” that is the position we are in,” added Paul.

GEB Chair Dr. Mary Okada emphasized the need for right-sizing GDOE schools  and Guam's Central Office to meet CBA requirements. 

“If it means transferring someone from here to the school to fill the requirements of the CBA–then it needs to be done,” said Okada. “There’s a lot of program people down here in high-paying positions.”

Okada is also pushing for a management audit to get them there, though it is currently unfunded. 

“We got to meet the requirements of our CBA–we need to make sure that the schools are staffed–and if it means we need to rearrange people–then we need to rearrange people,” said Okada.