San Juan is the first municipality certified as an alliance school administrator
By The Star Staff
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo on Monday announced the establishment of an agreement with the Department of Education (DE) that certifies San Juan as the first municipality on the island as an administrator of alliance schools.
The certification will allow San Juan to expand the educational services of its education system and its three specialized schools, the School of San Juan, the Sports School and the Specialized School of Mathematics, Sciences and Technology, under the Public School Alliances model, per the provisions of the Puerto Rico Education Reform Act of March 29, 2018, as amended.
The agreement between the city council and the DE is effective until June 30, 2027.
“With this certification, more students in San Juan can benefit from our educational model; in the Sports School and in the specialized School of Mathematics, Science and Technology we have expanded the academic offerings by adding the sixth grade,” Romero Lugo said. “We also managed to raise economic resources that allow us to fairly compensate the teaching staff and educational support personnel.”
As established by law, the purpose of the Public School Alliances is to allow parents, guardians, caregivers and communities -- as well as other nonprofit entities -- to become involved in the education of their children, addressing their special needs to strengthen and enrich the education of students in Puerto Rico.
The mayor highlighted the importance of the step for the specialized education of students in San Juan and the personnel at the aforementioned institutions.
“With this alliance, the Department of Education is taking a critically important step in the work plan we have outlined to continue improving the quality of education in our schools and the expansion of services for our students, while allowing us to access new funds for the benefit of our entire school community, including increasing and making more competitive the salaries of teachers, support and administrative personnel who are essential to fulfill the mission of educating and training human beings,” Romero Lugo said.
Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés said “we have achieved an important alliance with the Municipality of San Juan, after having complied with the requirements to obtain the charter that empowers them to manage a public alliance school.
“I emphasize the commitment and interest of Mayor Miguel Romero to improve the education of San Juan children through this model, which is under the Puerto Rico Education Reform Law,” the Education chief said. “We are confident that it will benefit the entire school community that attends the Specialized School in Mathematics, Science and Technology.”
A raise for teachers and support personnel
In addition to delegating operational decisions to the capital city administration, the Municipality of San Juan will have access to federal and local funds, preliminarily amounting to some $3.5 million, destined to improve the education of students and the working conditions of education and support personnel.
For that reason, the San Juan mayor also announced that, as of Dec. 1, the teaching, support and administrative staff of the Sports School, The School of San Juan and the Specialized School of Mathematics, Sciences and Technology would receive a monthly salary increase of $600 for teachers, assistant teachers, librarians and sports coaches in the system. For support staff the raise in salary will be $500 monthly.