It's almost unknown on the mainland just how bad Puerto Rico's public schools were long before the hurricane at educating their students. Puerto Ricans taking the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress in Spanish on a special version of the test carefully designed for Puerto Ricans found in 2013 that 95% of public school students on the Island scored Below Basic, the lowest of the 4 levels. Five percent scored Basic, and roughly zero percent scored Proficient or Advanced. This is much worse than Puerto Ricans score on the Mainland. http://www.unz.com/isteve/the-amazingly-horrible-test-scores-of-students-in-puerto-rico/

I was there after the hurricane. Actually to deliver supplies to a school in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. What I saw and heard from parents and school personnel was both disheartening and criminal. The then leader of Puerto Rico school system Joanna Kelleher had closed down hundreds of schools throughout the island without parents or student s input. This is the result of colonialist thinking which in the long run affects the island's children and parents disproportionately. There needs to be a reckoning not just for individuals involved in the corruption on the island, but for the Trump administration whose colonialist mentality has kept the island from getting the money Washington promised as well as the help they need. It's shameful that an island who has given their men and women in almost all American wars must now see their children suffering because America has turned its back on our school system in Puerto Rico and its people.

Question: What is Primary Language of Instruction in P.R. Elementary, Middle, High Schools?

The article fails to note that for decades the corrupt and incompetent governments of Puerto Rico have been Democratic. How did that happen?

As a voter for Democrats for 60 years it pains me to say this, but the quote below from a recent NYT article confirms beyond any doubt the corruption and incompetence of Puerto Rico’s government, which for decades has been run by Democrats: “But two years after Hurricane Maria forced the evacuation of the residents near the Guajataca Dam, the bulk of the $1.2 million in [warning] siren equipment is still sitting in storage on the island. The reason: The Puerto Rican government still has not granted itself the permits required to install all the alerts.” Unfortunately, Puerto Rico’s ongoing suffering is due in large part to its inept leadership. Why have the Democrats allowed this to continue for decades?

Democrats have run Puerto Rico for decades—or, I should say, have run it ineptly and corruptly for decades. How is it that Democrats have allowed this to happen?

Puerto Rico should ask to be released from the USA and to join Canada. I'm sure Trump wouldn't mind, as he obviously can't stand the idea of having to pay for the upkeep of an island full of "brown" people. And Canadians would probably be delighted to acquire an island in warm waters where they could go on vacation to take a break from the unrelenting Canadian winters. I say this tongue-in-cheek, but the reality is that being part of the USA has obviously zero advantages for Puerto Ricans, who are discriminated, forgotten and lack any form of representation in Washington. I'm sure the Canadians would provide them full citizenship and better social services including health care and schools.

#Why there needs to be online school for ages pre-K thru college. Videos that teach, readings, demonstrations of everything -- from letter formation to writing -- to chemistry experiments, physics experiments, to follow-up discussions. ALL on line - all possible and all relatively inexpensive to do. Of course, given blackouts .. no solar panels?? … but WE REALLY DO NEED THIS. Often children are badly taught in school and parents have NO RECOURSE-- which is why busing was created! Want to improve education? Provide ACCESS to written materials and methods. Parents can learn along with the kids.

Thank you for this article, it exposes a serious, pernicious and continuing problem for Puerto Rico. The pictures are excellent and convey the tragedy of the situation. We Puerto Ricans are US citizens. It is true we do not have to pay federal taxes (though many of us do) because we do not have representation in the US Congress with the exception of some non voting observers. Remember "No taxation without representation"? After hurricane Maria many people left the island, that much is true, but the core population remains steady. Puerto Ricans by and large will not abandon the island and the main concern for everybody has to be the younger generations. They deserve, as much as any kid anywhere in the USA, to obtain a good education. One that will free them from the errors of the past and allow us to achieve the potential that all US citizens are entitled to.

Your two charts (of school closures and declining enrolment) are an example of perfect symmetry. The fewer the students there are to educate the fewer teachers need be employed in doing so and the fewer buildings those students & teachers need. If enrolment were rising and teacher employment/school buildings were not rising there’d be a problem. People either can’t or don’t wish to bring up their children on Puerto Rico so that island needs less public education.

If Puerto Rico wants help from the government then they should accept that they're part of the United States. Instead they seem to think that they're different and have repeatedly voted against becoming a state, mainly because they don't want to pay federal income taxes. Well, I say if they don't want to contribute to the general welfare of the country, then the rest of the country shouldn't have to contribute to theirs. Their own mismanagement is responsible for the catastrophic state of the island, the rest of us had nothing to do with it. They should be made independent, then they might actually confront their problems instead of constantly coming to the gringos for handouts.