Education Dept.: It could take years to fully air-condition island classrooms
By THE STAR STAFF
Puerto Rico Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés acknowledged this week that it may take several years before air-conditioning systems can be uniformly installed in public school classrooms, citing major limitations in the electrical infrastructure of school campuses.
Testifying before the House Education Committee on Wednesday, Ramos Parés agreed that public school students should have access to cooled classrooms as the island faces increasingly frequent and intense heat waves. However, he said many schools lack the electrical capacity needed to support widespread air-conditioning systems, making an immediate solution impossible.
“I would like us all to be in comfortable temperatures, but we are far from that,” Ramos Parés told lawmakers.
He said the challenge involves not only installing equipment but also making large-scale investments in electrical generation and infrastructure, a process he indicated would take years to stabilize.
The secretary was responding to questions stemming from House Resolution 365, which examines the government’s response to recent heat waves and the availability of drinking water in schools. As a temporary measure, Ramos Parés said the Education Department issued a protocol on Aug. 6 containing preventive strategies for extreme heat during the 2026-27 academic year.
In addition to cooling initiatives, the department is pursuing reforestation projects to create shaded thermal refuge areas and has adjusted school uniform policies to help students cope with high temperatures. The agency’s School Nursing Program has also developed protocols for identifying symptoms associated with heat-related illnesses.
Committee Chair Tatiana Pérez Ramírez expressed concern that mitigation plans do little to address the daily reality facing students attending classes in overheated classrooms. She urged officials to consider the experience of students sitting in classrooms during the hottest parts of the day without air conditioning.
Ramos Parés said the department completed evaluations of 424 schools across the educational regions of Arecibo, Bayamón, Mayagüez, Ponce and San Juan in August 2025. Of 11,831 classrooms reviewed, 6,548 were found to contain air-conditioning units, but only 2,758 classrooms had functioning cooling systems.
The agency also reported that some 6,000 drinking fountains were distributed among the island’s seven regional education offices during the 2025-26 school year.
During the hearing, Ernesto Rodríguez, director of the National Weather Service (NWS) in Puerto Rico, presented data showing that 36% of the island’s schools are located in areas classified as having high or critical heat risk. He added that 34% of schools serving children under age 12 are situated in those same high-risk zones.
The findings were based on an analysis of satellite imagery covering 864 schools. The study identified the Ponce educational region as having the highest concentration of schools in high-risk heat zones at 50.7%, followed by Bayamón at 45% and San Juan at 42%.
Rodríguez said access to functioning drinking water fountains, adequate ventilation and emergency heat-response protocols should be considered school health and safety priorities. He warned that scientific evidence shows extreme heat poses a real threat to school communities. The NWS recommended that the Education Department integrate official heat products, climate information and risk maps into its prevention and response plans.
The hearing also highlighted broader infrastructure needs across the public school system. The Public Buildings Authority reported that 44 schools are still awaiting funding for painting projects and another 44 require waterproofing work, with estimated needs of $29 million and $37.4 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, the authority’s executive director, Félix Lassalle, said agency employees carried out necessary maintenance work at schools at an overtime cost of about $1.5 million.
The House Education Committee also reviewed additional investigations into the physical conditions of public schools in Las Piedras, Humacao and Naguabo, as well as a broader study on infrastructure conditions across all public school campuses in Puerto Rico.
