SAIPAN — Independent delegate candidate Galvin Sablan Deleon Guerrero on Thursday accused Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds of failing to secure a place for the CNMI in a congressional delegation visit to Guam focused on education and workforce issues, calling the exclusion of CNMI schools “more than an oversight.”
Members of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce, including Chairman Tim Walberg, visited Guam this week at the invitation of Guam Congressman James Moylan, whose office said the trip included two stakeholder roundtables with leaders from Guam’s education community, workforce agencies, labor organizations, the private sector and local government.
In a release from his campaign, Deleon Guerrero said students and educators from the CNMI were neither included nor represented in the visit. The release did not name King-Hinds, referring throughout to “our current Delegate.”
“The Delegate did not participate in the visit. The Delegate did not arrange with her colleagues from the House Republican leadership for an additional visit to the CNMI,” Deleon Guerrero said.
He said representatives from the University of Guam, Guam Community College, the Guam Contractors Association Trades Academy and the Guam Department of Education were “meaningfully engaged” in the visit, while it “appears” the CNMI Public School System, Northern Marianas College and Northern Marianas Technical Institute were not invited.
Deleon Guerrero, who described himself as a teacher and educational leader for more than 30 years, said the exclusion comes at a time when education funding in the CNMI is jeopardized by local and federal budget cuts at the start of a new school year.
“The omission of their critical voices in this CODEL visit is more than an oversight–it’s professional negligence,” he said.
He commended Moylan for leveraging his seat on the committee. “Too often, decisions that affect Guam are made thousands of miles away without the benefit of hearing directly from our local community. And while I make it a point to bring Guam’s story to Washington in every conversation, there is no substitute for seeing our island firsthand and hearing directly from our people,” Moylan said in remarks quoted in the release.
Deleon Guerrero said it is “disheartening” that the delegate proclaims her commitment to representing the CNMI on social media without translating those words into action. “As your Delegate with three decades of experience in education, I pledge to never leave our students and teachers behind,” he said.
Deleon Guerrero is challenging King-Hinds in this year’s delegate race.
