By The Star Staff
The Department of Education (DE) reported this Wednesday in a public hearing in the House of Representatives that in 2023 it approved 72% of the thousands of requests for activations and reactivations submitted by teaching employees to the Teaching Career program.
The Education Commission summoned the agency to verify compliance with Law 9-2022, which orders the agency to carry out the analysis and calculation of the records of teachers who have enrolled in the program in order to make the appropriate salary adjustment, retroactive or proactive, according to their teaching qualifications.
“The majority, at least; The greater part of the people who did qualify are already going for 92 percent of the plans that are already on the platform... It matters to me that all these teachers can be paid in this new round,” said the auxiliar secretary of Human Resources in the ED, Jimmy Cabán.
The official, who also heads the Teacher Career Office, explained that, although Law 9 establishes that the Program must come into effect for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the DE began paying teachers who met the requirements to apply. the incentive.
During the 2021-2022 fiscal year, these payments represented a fiscal impact of $5.7 million; in the 2022-2023 fiscal year it was $1.8 million; and throughout the 2023-2024 fiscal year it meant $6.6 million.
On the other hand, the Teacher Career Office also approved 2,771 reactivations that are necessary so that teachers can request salary reviews. To date, these efforts have systematically benefited 7,269 teachers, Cabán said.
Regarding the applications submitted for the years 2014 and 2015, Education reported that it received 3,302 and 1,299, respectively. 100% of them have been evaluated, while 44% of the applications from 2014 and 86% of those from 2015 are in the second validation stage.
The Teacher Career Office plans a second next round of payments during the current semester corresponding to the year 2014, Cabán said. Additionally, requests for funds for retroactive payments will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OGP in Spanish) and the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF) to be completed on or before the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
“This is not a gift. They worked, they sacrificed, they contributed their money and their time to give a better class and be better prepared. We know how we have to retain the teaching class,” said representative Deborah Soto Arroyo, president of the Education Commission.
Teachers show concern
The vice president of the Puerto Rico Teachers Association (AMPR in Spanish), Raúl González, expressed in the public hearing his concerns with the accumulation of files to attend to two years after having reactivated compliance with the Teaching Career Law (Law 158- 1999).
González pointed out that the overcrowding of work in the Teaching Career Office makes communication difficult with teachers who try to obtain information through telephone calls that are not answered. According to the spokesperson, the agency’s digital system for obtaining appointments extends the dates until 2026.
He also highlighted the generic responses received by teachers who have had requests denied despite the fact that the law requires a specific response. In this way, González explained, the teacher can be aware of the precise documentation that he needs to submit in order to complete the process.
“When that dispute arises and there is no specific solution, we go through the complaints and grievances process, and we go through the complaints and submit. Last week, around 952 teaching career complaints were filed for various elements within that process,” González stated.
“There are many elements here, and what we are asking for is the rescue of the Legislature to see how this whole process can be tempered… What we are looking for are answers,” claimed the union leader.