Charter schools and the future of Puerto Rico

[TexasTowelie]

Puerto Rico's government, under pressure from Washington, D.C., is following the script of the "shock doctrine" after the devastation and chaos following Hurricanes Irma and Maria last fall. The latest example: the announcement of plans to privatize the island's public schools by opening up charter schools--the very same process that happened starting a dozen years ago in New Orleans, where public education is now in the hands of the charter operators.

Edwin Morales Laboy, a math teacher and vice president of the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR), explains the stakes in an article written for the 80 grados website and translated into English by Monique Dols and Todd Chretien.


WHEN PUERTO Rico's Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced the privatization of public schools using the charter and the educational voucher systems as models, very few people were taken by surprise.

We had come to expect this over the years as so many administrations of both major Puerto Rican parties have been dancing to the tune of education policies sung in Washington.

They are ready to hand over billions of dollars in spending, but only if an education system is implemented that pushes schools to the brink of failure. This failure, then in turn, justifies privatization and handing school budgets over to private educational companies.

And this is how it is possible that, in the last 10 years, without anyone noticing, 67 companies that provide supplemental educational services have secured for themselves more than $1.4 billion in funds to provide services for students struggling students in Title I schools in Puerto Rico.

Read more: https://socialistworker.org/2018/02/21/charter-schools-and-the-future-of-puerto-rico