Seizing Upon Post-Hurricane Damage, Puerto Rico's New "Education Reform" Law Paves Way for Charters, Vouchers

Roughly six months after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, the island’s governor signed into law “education reform” legislation that he says “puts our students first” but that critics say stinks of a privatization plan that will do nothing to help students.

The plan will consolidate schools and allow for charter schools and vouchers—ideas that are not endorsed by the Puerto Rico Teachers Association (Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico).

Another teacher’s union, the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico, vowed that it, alongside teachers, parents, and students, would “defeat the false reform with the struggle on the street and in schools.”

Offering background, education historian Lauren Lefty wrote at Jacobin:

Among critics’ targets is Julia Keleher, Puerto Rico’s non-Puerto Rican Education Secretary, who, in the wake of the hurricane said the storm was a “real opportunity to press the reset button.” Her role, Lefty argued, “highlights the island’s precarious colonial status and harkens to even less sovereign days.”

As NPR reported earlier this month,

“We are disappointed the powers that be in Puerto Rico have bought the wrongheaded DeVos and Trump spin that charters and vouchers are a panacea,” American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said recently.

Responding to the new law, education historian Diane Ravitch writes that it marks “a sad day for Puerto Rico.” She continues: