Federal Education Allocates $ 125 Million to Puerto Rico to Attend Schools During Coronavirus Pandemic

Washington dc- The U.S. Department of Education allocated another $ 125 million to help Puerto Rican schools reopen and manage the education system during the coronavirus pandemic.

The funds are in addition to the $ 1.320 billion announced last week by now former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and will be administered by the governor’s office, Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia.

Hours before leaving the post, to distance himself from the act of insurgency against Congress instigated by President Donald Trump, DeVos announced on Friday the allocation of funds, which also come from the latest economic stimulus law, agreed last December.

According to the Washington resident commissioner, Jenniffer González, The $ 125 million to be managed by the Governor’s Office will fund the cleaning of educational facilities, the acquisition of personal protective equipment, the installation of ventilation systems, training and professional development for teachers on security practices during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gonzalez said today that the funds will also fund barriers to implementing physical distancing, coronavirus diagnostic testing and contact tracking. They will also help fund the costs of educational technology needed during the pandemic, the redevelopment of instructional plans, and the possibility of renting additional space to ensure physical distancing.

Last week, former Secretary-General DeVos indicated that the $ 1.320 million initially allocated can be used to “measure student progress, identify students who have been retarded and provide them with differentiated instruction and learning resources.” .

Under the Cares Act, the economic stimulus statute passed in March 2020, the Puerto Rico Department of Education received $ 349 million, which it has had to claim by eyedropper, at a time when the U.S. government has ordered the hiring of a trustee to administer most of the federal funds.

Initially, the federal Department of Education had determined that these $ 349 million could not be used pending the hiring of the trustee.

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