The request to lawmakers from Guam's charter school community is a recurring one: Lift the cap on the number of charter schools.

“I really think a sufficient amount is at least 10 or 12 charter schools to really fit the demand and the needs for our parents that want a school choice option,” said Evangeline Cepeda, Guam Academy Charter Schools Council Chair.

Currently, the island is at its legal capacity with seven schools in existence.

To address this, Senator Tina Muna Barnes introduced three bills aimed at lifting that cap from seven to eight.

Among those measures is Bill 252, which proposes using the Guam Community College to serve as a career and technical-focused charter school.

GCC officials testified in support of the legislation, among them, GCC acting President, Virgina Tudela.

“This model is both strategic and transformative. First, it expands access to high-quality career and technical education by aligning secondary education with GCC’s certified programs. Students will have early exposure to career pathways in high-demand fields such as construction trades, healthcare, information technology, automotive technology, culinary arts, and other critical workforce sectors,” said Tudela.

She further noted that students would complete high school requirements while also earning industry-recognized credentials and dual credit toward post-secondary certificates and degrees.

Former GCC President Mary Okada provided historical context, sharing that the college began developing a framework for an early middle college back in 2017, and that Bill 252 supports those efforts from eight years ago.

“Middle college or early college schools are community collaborations between school districts and colleges, parents, and business representatives. Institutional collaborations have been found to make college attainable for more students, reduce repetition in curriculum, provide coordinated student services, and, very importantly for many of the high school graduates, eliminate the need for remediation,” said Okada.

In addition to Bill 252, two other bills are on the table: Bill 256 and Bill 264.

Bill 256 seeks to establish a charter school geared toward tourism and hospitality management, while Bill 264 authorizes and supports a public charter model that prioritizes early intervention and inclusive education for children with conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and speech and language delays.

The GACS Chair acknowledged that while these specific needs are being determined, the current legislative cap would only allow for the creation of one more school, though conversations around increasing the limit up to 10 were also brought up, in addition to merging all three bills into one.

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