Puerto Rico Department of Education gets initial thumbs-up from Washington
Officials with the U.S. Department of Education recently visited Puerto Rico to take stock of the progress being made by the commonwealth's Department of Education, which has been plagued with problems over recent years. The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) is currently being monitored by the federal office in order to make sure there is overall compliance as well as adherence to agreements made between the departments. The U.S. Department of Education is almost monitoring PRDE to certify that funds are being used properly.
Deputy Chief of Staff Eric Waldo, who visited Puerto Rico along with Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Carl Harris and General Counsel Charlie Rose, says the commonwealth's governor, Luis Fortuno, is playing an integral role in getting the department back on track.
“I continue to be impressed with the strong progress that Governor Fortuño and his team are making. Since his first meeting with Secretary Duncan in 2009, Governor Fortuño pledged to work closely with the U.S. Department of Education to improve educational outcomes for all of Puerto Rico’s students, and to improve the performance of the Puerto Rico Department of Education on monitoring and compliance more generally. Because of the substantial efforts of the Governor, his Secretary of Education, and the rest of his Education Task Force, we hope to be able to move beyond the compliance agreements of the past, while remaining partners in the future.”
Waldo went on to say that the department plans to continue to assist the Puerto Rico Department of Education "with ongoing and robust technical assistance" in hopes of boosting student achievement. According to the U.S. Department of Education's website, the legal agreements between the federal and Puerto Rican departments of education are set to expire soon if the U.S. office approves it based on the recent trip as well as documents newly submitted by PRDE.
