69ý

Blog

Your Education Road Map

Politics K-12®

Politics K-12 kept watch on education policy and politics in the nation’s capital and in the states. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: , .

Federal

Miguel Cardona: Puerto Rico’s Teachers Are Doing Their Best to Reopen Classrooms

By Andrew Ujifusa — June 29, 2021 3 min read
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during a press briefing at the White House on March 17, 2021.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in an Education Week interview during his trip to Puerto Rico this week that while the U.S. territory’s officials acknowledge that they “have an obligation to earn the trust of the people of Puerto Rico,” he’s looking forward to strengthening the relationship between his agency and the island’s school system.

Doing so, he said, will clear the way for more support to help students recover from the pandemic and to help schools improve.

In addition to meetings with Puerto Rican officials, Cardona also made a point of visiting with students attending a summer-learning program. It was the first time, Cardona said, that those students had returned to their school since March 2020, when the pandemic shut down in-person classes in the island-wide system and added to the challenges that students and educators there have faced over the last several years.

“The students I saw today were happy to be in school,” Cardona said in a Tuesday interview. He added that teachers and other educators were working hard to ensure in-person learning opportunities this summer and into the next school year: “They want to be there with their students.”

He also stressed the importance of providing school counselors and other support staff to students to help them as they transition back to classrooms.

Cardona’s visit, scheduled to last from June 27 to June 29, underscored his links to the island. His parents moved from the U.S. territory to the mainland, where he was born, and Cardona has been a prominent participant in Puerto Rican cultural events in his Connecticut hometown.

COVID-19 and lingering damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017 have exacerbated or exposed significant issues for the island’s schools, from a long-term enrollment decline to the arrest of former education secretary Julia Keleher, who recently to charges involving fraud.

Keleher, who left office in 2019, closed hundreds of public schools in 2018, citing fiscal and the drop in the number of students, a move that added to controversy surrounding her leadership. Enrollment stood at roughly 350,000 when Maria struck the island; federal data from 2019-20 put the number of students at 292,500, a drop of about 16 percent.

Cardona marked the start of his Puerto Rico visit by announcing on Monday that his department was in federal funding, including $2 billion in American Rescue Plan relief, for the island’s educational system. That came a few months after the U.S. Department of Education released nearly $1 billion in federal funding for the island. Cardona also visited with officials from the island’s teachers’ union, which is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.

“The students of Puerto Rico have suffered enough,” . “It’s time to get back to school safely and quickly. The resources and the partnership will help that happen.”

Last year, the Trump administration restricted Puerto Rico’s access to some of its pandemic relief for education, and said that significant and long-standing concerns remained about Puerto Rico’s handling of federal education grants. A 2019 audit by the Education Department’s office of inspector general that examined post-Maria disaster aid for schools found oversight deficiencies in five of six transactions it sampled; the inspector general said Puerto Rico’s government lacked the proven ability to safeguard against “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Asked by Education Week for his response to concerns people have about the overall management of the island’s educational system, Cardona pointed out that the Puerto Rico Department of Education has an agreement with a third-party fiduciary agent to conduct fiscal oversight, which should help ease concerns. He said Gov. Pedro Pierluisi recognized the importance of that step with respect to getting access to federal aid, even if the territory’s officials weren’t thrilled with it.

More broadly, he also said officials acknowledged to him that they must work to overcome the “history of mistrust” of K-12 education leadership in Puerto Rico.

“All signals are pointing that we’re moving forward,” Cardona said. “There are systems in place that are going to address some of the concerns folks have had about the behavior of previous secretaries.”

At the same time, Cardona said Puerto Rico’s education leaders need the Education Department and the administration to help Puerto Rico develop capacity where needed, and to help do things like strengthen the relationship between the University of Puerto Rico and the island’s K-12 schools.

“They need a partnership with the U.S. Department of Education that respects what they need and what their students need,” Cardona said.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Politics K-12 blog.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Federal From Our Research Center How Educators Say They'll Vote in the 2024 Election
Educators' feelings on Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump vary by age and the communities where they work.
4 min read
Jacob Lewis, 3, waits at a privacy booth as his grandfather, Robert Schroyer, fills out his ballot while voting at Sabillasville Elementary School, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sabillasville, Md.
Jacob Lewis, 3, waits at a privacy booth as his grandfather, Robert Schroyer, fills out his ballot while voting at Sabillasville Elementary School, Nov. 8, 2022, in Sabillasville, Md.
Julio Cortez/AP
Federal Q&A Oklahoma State Chief Ryan Walters: 'Trump's Won the Argument on Education'
The state schools chief's name comes up as Republicans discuss who could become education secretary in a second Trump administration.
8 min read
Ryan Walters, then-Republican candidate for Oklahoma State Superintendent, speaks at a rally, Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City.
Ryan Walters speaks at a rally on Nov. 1, 2022, in Oklahoma City as a candidate for state superintendent of public instruction. He won the race and has built a national profile for governing in the MAGA mold.
Sue Ogrocki/AP
Federal Why Trump and Harris Have Barely Talked About 69ý This Election
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump haven't outlined many plans for K-12 schools, reflecting what's been the norm in recent contests for the White House.
6 min read
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate in an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center on Sept.10, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Alex Brandon/AP
Federal Who Could Be Donald Trump's Next Education Secretary?
Trump must decide if he wants someone with a "proven track record" or a "culture warrior," says a former GOP Hill staffer.
9 min read
President Donald Trump, right, arrives in a classroom at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Fla., on March 3, 2017.
President Donald Trump, right, arrives in a classroom at St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Fla., on March 3, 2017.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP