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The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE; ) is one of the statewide public education system in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, with (
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
being the other). The PRDOE is the state education agency in charge of managing public schools in
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
as well as the island's
education system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
and
curricula In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
. The department, headquartered in
Hato Rey Hato Rey is a former barrio located in the northwest part of the dissolved municipality of Río Piedras. It now stretches over three barrios, of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico: Urban landscape Its name means "king's cattle farm" (' ...
,
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John, may refer to: Places Argentina * San Juan Province, Argentina * San Juan, Argentina, the capital of that province * San Juan, Salta, a village in Iruya, Salta Province * San Juan (Buenos Aires Underground), ...
, is the result of a United States state department of education. It is also the largest agency of the executive branch of Puerto Rico, with, as of 2019, an annual budget of more than $3.5 billion USD and over 72,000 staff—including more than 41,000 teachers, and as of 2020 the department is the third-largest school district in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
by enrollment, with over 276,413 students and 857 schools. The department was formerly known as the Department of Public Instruction of Puerto Rico. Under local law, all public schools are required to be licensed by the Puerto Rico Education Council.


History

The department was established under section 6 of Article IV of the
Constitution of Puerto Rico The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, Constitución del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico) is the controlling government document of Puerto Rico. It is composed of nine articles detailing the structure of the government ...
on 25 July 1952. In 1950, there were 74 districts, each managed by a superintendent.
Juan Bernardo Huyke Juan Bernardo Huyke Bozello (June 11, 1880 – December 17, 1961) served as acting governor of Puerto Rico several months in 1923. Background Huyke was born in Arroyo, Puerto Rico on June 11, 1880. He was the son of Don Enrique Huyke and D ...
who was the superintendent of the Bayamón district in 1950, and also served as the
Secretary of Education of Puerto Rico The secretary of education of Puerto Rico is responsible for the development and management of all educational matters in the government of Puerto Rico and heads the Department of Education. There have been three types of secretaries in the ...
; he wrote a number of books and was a strong proponent of bilingual education for the island public school students. In 2012 governor
Luis Fortuño Luis Guillermo Fortuño Burset (born 31 October 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, from 2009 to 2013. Fortuño served as the first secretary of econom ...
inaugurated the first school under the "21st century" program intended to modernize the island's schools. Critics signalled that community input was not taken into account when modernizing schools. In total 100 schools were remodeled under the program which used ARRA funds. In 2016
PROMESA The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) is a U.S. federal law enacted in 2016 that established a financial oversight board, a process for restructuring debt, and expedited procedures for approving critical i ...
gave the
Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico (FOMBPR), colloquially known as ''La Junta de Control/Supervisión Fiscal'' is a government entity whose role to revise and approve the budget and obligations of the government of Puerto R ...
control over the island's finances including the department. The board has ordered cuts to education on various occasions including for
special needs education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
, which faces a cut of $95 million in 2021. In 2017, Julia Keleher became the department's secretary. That year, due to the
Puerto Rican government-debt crisis The Puerto Rican government-debt crisis was a financial crisis affecting the government of Puerto Rico. The crisis began in 2014 when three major credit agencies downgraded several bond issues by Puerto Rico to "junk status" after the governmen ...
, the department announced that 187 schools would close. That number was revised to 179 shortly afterward. Receiving no maintenance once shuttered, the school buildings caused blight in many communities that subsequently hoped to use the school buildings and premises for other purposes. In
Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lare ...
, it was decided that unused public schools, including one in Piletas Arce (on Puerto Rico Highway 129), would be transformed for use by the agricultural industry of Lares. The island's economic crisis along with the resulting population loss has caused a decline in the student population. In 2020 the department had 16,105 students, representing a decline of 5.5% from the year before. The department also has seen a lack of personnel, including teachers and directors. Most years, the agency has needed hundreds more staff: 500 in 2013, 300 in 2019, and 457 in 2021. In 2018 the
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 per ...
president Randy Weingarten indicated the beginning of the school year was "plagued by chaos and lack of planning". The staff shortages have resulted in many schools delaying the first week of class. In September 2020, the
Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...
administration approved $13 billion, through
FEMA The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Ex ...
, to Puerto Rico destined to rebuild the electrical infrastructure and education system. The department continues to struggle fiscally in 2021. Interim secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés informed the agency had witnessed cuts of $749 million from both state and local sources and as a result lacked $58 million needed for wages. The
2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes Starting on December 28, 2019, and progressing into 2022, the southwestern part of the island of Puerto Rico was struck by an earthquake swarm,
resulted in various schools being damaged or shuttered. Delays in receiving funds for repairs hampered efforts to resume classes.


COVID-19 Pandemic

In 2021 the department announced summer classes to help 37,000 students which are at risk of not passing to the next grade, in part due to problems related to online learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This represented at least 20% of the student population at risk of failing. During the 2021 spring semester, governor
Pedro Pierluisi Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia (born April 26, 1959) is a Puerto Rican politician and lawyer currently serving as governor of Puerto Rico. He has previously served as Secretary of Justice, Resident Commissioner, acting Secretary of State, i ...
attempted to reopen schools which had been shuttered due to the pandemic, but these plans were delayed. The school reopening process demonstrated some schools lacked teachers,
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the pre ...
and custodians. Eligible students were required to be vaccinated nonetheless, days before the beginning of the semester the department did not have knowledge of how many had received their COVID-19 shots. For the August 2021 semester, the department ordered air purifiers, but the purchase was halted by the Financial Oversight and Management Board due to a lack of a competitive process. The contractor for the air purifiers had been involved in another controversial contract related to providing students with tutoring. In March 2021, as part of Governor Pedro Pierluisi's executive order on gender based violence, the department incorporated
gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...
into the curriculum for 2022.


Organization


UnEE

The agency divides itself into areas, including the area of Projects Educational Transformation, which includes the island's Specialized Schools Unit (UnEE, for its initials in Spanish). These schools are
Magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nicke ...
schools which specialize in certain materials and have higher requirements for admission than other public schools. Many well recognized schools such as CROEM and University Gardens High School are UnEE schools.


Montessori Schools

The department has an autonomous program run by the Auxiliary Secretariat of Montessori Education (SAEM, for its initials in Spanish). As of 2021, 47 schools with 13,500 students have implemented this style of teaching. The ''Instituto Nueva Escuela,'' the only institution accredited by the
American Montessori Society The American Montessori Society (AMS) is a New York City-based, member-supported nonprofit organization which promotes the use of the Montessori teaching approach in private and public schools. AMS advocates for the Montessori method (popularized ...
on the island, has an alliance with the program to help create educational material.


School uniforms

The department formerly required all students to wear
school uniform A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution.They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries. An example of a uniform would be requiring button-down shirts ...
s and only disallowed them for medical exemptions. In 2020 the department indicated any single colored t-shirt, polo or button shirt is acceptable. Public schools are prohibited from requiring a specific school uniform and as a result the purchase of school clothing is open to the free market. These changes would be implemented from the 2021–2022 academic year.


Secretaries

The Department of education's secretary is nominated by the
governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico ( es, gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor has a duty to enforce local laws, to co ...
and confirmed by the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.


References


External links


Digital library of the Puerto Rico Department of Education
(in Spanish) {{authority control
Department Of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
Executive departments of the government of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
State departments of education of the United States Government agencies established in 1900 1900 establishments in Puerto Rico