The change in the authorities that will govern the destinies of our educational system, both at the local and federal levels, poses a new challenge for this crucial area responsible for the social and human development of Puerto Rico’s children and youth.
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The favorable coincidence, during the outgoing administration, of having an education secretary of Puerto Rican origin, such as José Cardona, connected with the purpose of the government of Pedro Pierluisi to implement a plan to decentralize educational management, is now somewhat diluted and in suspense.
This limbo cannot be added to the series of negative events that have eroded the foundations of the Department of Education. The fragility of its scaffolding is rooted in mismanagement, corrupt acts, idleness and a bureaucracy that stifles the inspiration of its educators.
Jenniffer González has stated from the beginning that she will leave pending her definition of the future of the Education Decentralization and Regional Autonomy Initiative (IDEAR), whose development has not been without setbacks. The definition will be in charge of the new Secretary of Education, Eliezer Ramos Parés, who started IDEAR when he was in charge of the DE.
Ramos Parés, on the governor’s recommendation, will not be distracted in setting a position in this period of the second school semester. And there are plenty of reasons. The more than 800 schools have to fill, for example, 162 vacant teaching positions, and attend to those cases that, as is the case throughout the island, suffer from power outages.
IDEAR was created in May 2023 to break the administrative structure that, until now, the DE has, with the intention of reducing bureaucracy and allowing decisions that directly affect learning and teaching to be made in structures closer to the schools.
The Ponce Regional Education Office (ORE) was selected last summer as the first to take steps toward greater autonomy. Education’s plans were to begin the transition to an LEA (Local Education Agency) in more educational regions each year, but González questioned the continuity of the initiative.
The mystery does not end in the local scenario. A not minor question mark also opens up at the federal level with the appointment as Secretary of Education of Linda McMahon, who was one of the co-chairs of Donald Trump’s transition process. Her media fame is due to the venture that she and her husband achieved in wrestling. Both are the architects of the WWE entertainment empire, which generates millions of dollars.
In Puerto Rico, the DE has been the subject of recruitment plans for years that have considerably increased its operation. Because of the size of its budget, it has been under the magnifying glass of the Fiscal Oversight Board and federal authorities. If Trump’s promise to eliminate bureaucracy at all levels of the federal government comes to pass, Puerto Rico will not escape that filter.
The island’s school system serves 273,000 students. Modernization depends on the proper management of the $5 billion that supports the DE’s annual budget. In this context, it seems that decentralization is a tool that could help the proper management of finances. We are in time to review, as the governor proposes, the effectiveness of its performance.
It is also desirable that the fair judgment to be made by Secretary Ramos Parés is not tainted with political bias and that his recommendation on the fate of IDEAR is balanced and fair to serve the school population that makes up the seventh largest district in the United States. That visibility, at a time when the Trump administration is launching a decisive fiscal plan, cannot be overlooked. The Jenniffer González administration should immediately initiate proactive action to avoid receiving a bad grade from the new principal occupying the White House.
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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.
