Report: Puerto Rico Schools Face Post-Storms Crisis

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Report: Puerto Rico Schools Face Post-Storms Crisis Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory devastated last year by Hurricane Maria, is facing the start of this year's hurricane season with controversy over how to help the island's struggling school system, as thousands of students emigrate to the mainland with their families. The New York Times reported Saturday that Puerto Rico plans to shutter 265 schools in addition to the 167 that were closed last year in the face of the island's deep financial problems and battered infrastructure. A sharp drop in enrollment is driving the school closures, officials say, following the island's slow recovery from the storm. Standardized tests have also revealed that only 10 percent of Puerto Rico's seventh-, eighth- and 11th-graders achieved proficiency in mathematics last year. Officials say only about 49 percent of students in Puerto Rico achieved proficiency in Spanish last year. Julie Keleher, appointed in 2017 by Governor Ricardo Rossello to save the school system, told the Times that a new law that allows charter schools in Puerto Rico — independently run, publicly funded schools parents can choose over standard public schools — will help students get the education they need, as well as give raises of $1,500 to teachers. But opponents say the charter school plan, which is used elsewhere in the United States, will drain traditional public schools of gravely needed funds.  Threat to neighborhoods With the island still struggling to restore power and clean water to some communities, opponents of the plan say closing local schools will further break down their neighborhoods. Opponents of the school closures have asked the U.S. Congress, which makes decisions on federal allocation of funds to Puerto Rico, to ensure that the new charter schools do not receive any of the $589 million in federal hurricane assistance that was set aside to help public schools. Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit Puerto Rico in September last year, in what became one of the island's worst natural disasters, sparking an exodus to the mainland that is expected to continue. The report quotes U.S. Department of Education statistics as saying enrollment in Puerto Rican schools has dropped by 38,700 since May 2017. It says the island's current 319,000-student enrollment is expected to fall to 312,000 in the upcoming school year and to about 292,000 by 2021.
June 03, 2018 at 05:05AM