Bill 351-38 needs to hear from us

Bill No. 351-38 (COR) was introduced on August 24 by Senator Vince Borja and four other senators. The bill lets the Guam Education Board set its own educator classification and pay. It also sets a target. Our salaries are to reach at least ninety-five percent of the national average teacher salary within five years. Guam teachers earn well below that average today. This is how we close the gap.

The public hearing is Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at 2:00 PM at the Guam Legislature in Hagåtña. Please write a letter of support and email it to contact@senatorvinceborja.com before the hearing. Your letter does not need to be long. Tell them what you teach and how many years you have taught on Guam. Tell them what the pay gap has cost you. Write about the coworkers you have watched leave the island. Here is a template: GFT_Email_Template_Bill_351-38. One letter from a union is easy to set aside. Two hundred letters, each in a teacher’s own words, are not. Please also attend the hearing if you are able. A full room matters.

We need more members as well. Every educator who joins GFT makes our next letter and our next hearing carry more weight. Talk to the teacher in the classroom next to yours. Ask if they belong to GFT. If they do not, bring them in.

Email template: letter of support for Bill No. 351-38 (COR)

Send to contact@senatorvinceborja.com before the public hearing on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, 2:00 PM, Guam Legislature, Hagåtña.

Replace everything in brackets. Please do not send this template as written. Senators count identical emails as one letter. The two middle paragraphs in your own words are what make yours count.

Subject:  Support for Bill No. 351-38 (COR)

Dear Senator Borja,

My name is [your name]. I am a [your position, for example teacher, counselor, librarian, or school nurse] at [your school]. I have worked in Guam’s public schools for [number] years.

I am writing in support of Bill No. 351-38 (COR).

[Write two or three sentences here in your own words about what the pay gap has meant for you. Things you might write about: a second job you work, a bill you struggle to cover, a move or a family decision you could not afford, what you were offered by a district off island, or what your family asks you about staying.]

[Write two or three more sentences about your students. Things you might write about: a vacancy at your school this year and who is covering it, a coworker who left the island and what happened to their classes, a class that has had several substitutes in one year, or what a certified teacher does that a long-term substitute cannot.]

Bringing our salaries to ninety-five percent of the national average teacher salary over five years would help us keep the teachers we already have. That is what our students need. I ask you and the Committee to pass Bill No. 351-38 (COR).

[Optional: I plan to attend the public hearing on September 8.]

Thank you for your work on this bill.

Respectfully,

[Your name]

[Your position, your school]

[Your village]

[Your personal email or phone, optional]

Before you send

• Keep it short. Half a page is enough. A senator will read a short email all the way through.
• Write it yourself. Two hundred letters in two hundred voices carry far more weight than two hundred copies of the same one.
• Use your own words about your own classroom. You do not need to quote statistics. You are the evidence.
• Send it from your personal email account and on your own time, not from school equipment during work hours.
• Send it before September 8 so it reaches the Committee ahead of the hearing. Come to the hearing too if you are able.