Education Secretary Miguel Cardona pushes for resource equity in Puerto Rican schools

Cardona, who is of Puerto Rican origin, is visiting the Island on Monday and Tuesday to follow up on the decentralization process of the Department of Education to disseminate its unitary system.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, expressed his impatience at the delay for Puerto Rican students and teachers to receive all the necessary resources.

Cardona, who is of Puerto Rican origin, is visiting the Island on Monday and Tuesday to follow up on the decentralization process of the Department of Education to disseminate its unitary system. This system has historically limited local communities from accessing and making decisions regarding the best use of educational funds to serve their students effectively.

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On Monday, Cardona had a round table with members of the Educational Decentralization and Regional Autonomy Initiative (IDEAR) to follow up on the initiative’s latest efforts.

Supported by American Rescue Plan funding, the Government of Puerto Rico (GPR) created IDEAR to establish the island’s first autonomous local educational agency (LEA) by August 2024.

“We wanted to see those dollars get to the classrooms and we’re working with the Governor, we’re working with the Secretary (of local Education Department),  to get it to do it. But the systems were not designed, so we’re designing a system so that now the local control determines those dollars,” Cardona stated during a press brief. “I was tired of seeing teachers paying for things, painting their classrooms. You don’t see that anywhere else, we shouldn’t see it here on the island and there’s dollars there. So we’re creating a system that didn’t exist before. That’s part of the reason why it’s taking so long. And that’s why I’m here today to hear from people what’s working, and what’s not working.”

Secretary Cardona urged GPR to continue to prioritize the efforts and send a letter to Puerto Rico Secretary of Education Yanira Raíces Vega, regarding that commitment and detailed tasks that remain to be done, such as hiring different positions.

The Secretary highlighted the interest that President Joe Biden and Vice President, Kamala Harris, have had in Puerto Rico. Cardona was the first Biden administration official to come to the island when he took office and assured folks that he would continue working to guarantee the progress of the plan.

Before questions from the press, he said that it does not matter if the administration changes on the island or the US, because it is an Election year, but the plan should continue.

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“I understand the importance, not only because there are elections coming in November in the US. But more importantly, it is because the students of Puerto Rico are there waiting. The grandparents, the parents are waiting too. There is urgency and as I said, the administration here does not matter, but we also have the foundation already in place, so that in the future it does not matter who the president is there,” Cardona said.

On Tuesday, the secretary will continue meetings with key people in Aguada, the municipality where his parents are from.

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