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<div id="reader-header" class="header" style="display: block;"> <a
id="reader-domain" class="domain"
href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/22/puerto-rico-schools-betsy-devos/">theintercept.com</a>
<h1 id="reader-title">Betsy DeVos is Helping Puerto Rico
Re-Imagine Its Public School System. That Has People Deeply
Worried.</h1>
<div id="reader-estimated-time">Rachel M. Cohen - <span
class="PostByline-date">February 22 2018</span></div>
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<p><span><u>Puerto Rico, in</u> the midst of the chaos
and instability following Hurricane Maria, is moving
quickly forward with plans to institute a wide swath
of education reforms, with the help of the
aggressively ideological federal education
department, helmed by Education Secretary Betsy
DeVos. </span></p>
<p><span>Puerto Rico’s governor and education secretary
have expressed openness to the concerns raised by
parents, teachers and community members, and stress
they are not looking to implement an extreme version
of privatization. Yet at the same time, they have
stoked fears by pushing forward a notably vague
charter law that does little to address what people
are most worried about. This “trust us” mentality
has not been helped by the engagement of DeVos, nor
by Gov. Ricardo Rosselló’s recent visit to a
notorious charter chain in Philadelphia last week —
a prime example of the kind of low-performing,
fiscally reckless charter that school advocates warn
about. </span></p>
<p><span>At a time when the island is starved of
investment and inching slowly through a storm
recovery, many Puerto Ricans worry that the
government is treating this more as an opportunity
to disrupt education, rather than stabilize it —
while also potentially opening the doors for
supercharged corruption.</span></p>
<p><span>Puerto Rico’s public school system remains
severely ravaged since Hurricane Maria, the Category
4 storm that tore through the island in late
September. “The recovery has gone very slowly,” said
Aida Díaz, president of the island’s 40,000-member
teachers union, the </span><span>Asociación de
Maestros de Puerto Rico</span><i><span>. </span></i><span>“We
still have hundreds of schools without electricity,
internet, and many of our teachers and students are
having classes just half-day.” </span><span><br>
</span></p>
<blockquote class="stylized pull-left"
data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="left">“We
still have hundreds of schools without electricity,
internet, and many of our teachers and students are
having classes just half-day.”</blockquote>
<p><span>Rosselló delivered a televised address in early
February announcing a package of educational reforms
he’d like to bring to the island – including
charters, vouchers for private schools, and the
first pay increase for teachers in a decade. Puerto
Rico teachers earn on average $27,000 a year, and
would see increases of $1,500 under the governor’s
proposal. “The current educational system does not
respond to what is needed to train our students to
succeed in a world that’s ever more competitive and
complex,” Rosselló </span><a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/english/english/nota/readgovernorrossellosmessageaboutatotaleducationsystemreform-2396099/"> <span>declared</span></a><span>.</span></p>
<p><span>Rosselló’s big announcement came on the heels
of a</span><a
href="http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/gobierno-politica/nota/quiereaeducacionporellibro-1265575/">
<span>separate plan</span></a><span> he outlined in
January, to close 305 of Puerto Rico’s 1,100 public
schools. Rosselló said these closures would lead to
an estimated $300 million in savings by 2022 – and
by extension help the island recover from Maria and
its long-term debt crisis. Puerto Rican citizens
have long worried the</span><a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/us/puerto-rico-debt-schools-close.html">
<span>government’s interest</span></a><span> in
shuttering schools</span><a
href="https://theintercept.com/2017/11/08/puerto-rico-schools-system-with-post-katrina-new-orleans-as-the-model/">
<span>would be a first step</span></a><span> on the
road to privatization.</span></p>
<p><span>While Rosselló’s televised address garnered a
lot</span><a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-puertorico-debt-education/puerto-rico-governor-announces-public-education-overhaul-idUSKBN1FP2RV">
<span>of national attention</span></a><span>, little
has been paid to the <a
href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4385416-Puerto-Rico-School-Legislation.html">136-page
bill</a> that was introduced several days later,
and the vocal debate it has sparked within the
territory.</span></p>
<p><span>Who helped craft the bill is not entirely
clear.</span></p>
<p><span>Díaz, the teachers union president, told The
Intercept that her members played absolutely no role
in drafting the proposals. “They didn’t consider us,
they didn’t invite us, we didn’t participate,” she
said.</span></p>
<p><span>Todd Ziebarth, senior vice president for the
National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, told
The Intercept they “were not deeply involved in the
bill drafting at all” but that they did have some
conversations with people in Puerto Rico’s education
department about charter legislation and how other
states have handled certain issues. Ziebarth added
that while his organization has not done a deep
analysis of Puerto Rico’s bill, he thinks “it
provides a good start for getting charters up and
running.”</span></p>
<p><span>DeVos and her federal education department have
certainly been involved. DeVos’s Deputy Assistant
Secretary Jason Botel has been in “close
communication” with Puerto Rico’s Education
Secretary Julia Keleher for months since the storm,
and in a blogpost published in January, Botel</span><a
href="https://medium.com/after-irma-and-mar%C3%ADa-island-education-weathers-the/to-rebuild-rethink-and-renew-3a51755b8857">
<span>wrote</span></a><span>, “We look forward to
supporting students, educators and community members
as they not only rebuild what’s been lost, but also
improve, rethink and renew.” </span></p>
<p><span>In an interview with The Intercept, Keleher,
Puerto Rico’s education secretary, said that a local
law firm helped them craft the bill, two law firms
from the mainland that had experience working with
charter schools, and a team from the federal
department of education. “We did have a series of
technical assistance from the U.S education
department,” she said. “They didn’t comment on the
bill but they did help us think through it, and
helped us define what we thought should be the final
set of things to include.” </span></p>
<p><span>In November, Rosselló tweeted pictures of a
meeting he and Keleher held with DeVos and her
staff, noting they were “itemizing the areas that
need the most attention in order to restore our
education system.”</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><span>The Department of Education did not return The
Intercept’s request for comment, but earlier this
month DeVos</span><a
href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/02/08/devos-strikes-a-softer-tone-096814">
<span>told a group of reporters</span></a><span>
that she was very encouraged by Puerto Rico’s
leadership for embracing school choice after the
hurricane. She praised its approach for thoughtfully
“meeting students needs … in a really concerted and
individual way.”</span></p>
<p><span>In November, In the Public Interest, a research
and policy organization focused on privatization and
contracting, submitted a request under the Freedom
of Information Act to the Department of Education
requesting all communications between Jason Botel
and Julia Keleher between July 1 and mid-November,
and all emails sent or received by Botel during that
period that mention charter schools or Puerto Rico.
The Education Department confirmed receipt of the
FOIA request a week later, and granted the group’s
fee waiver request on January 12. Shar Habibi, the
research and policy director at In The Public
Interest, told The Intercept they’re still waiting
to receive the records.</span><br>
</p>
<span><u>One controversial aspect</u> of Puerto Rico’s
proposed legislation is its language to allow multiple
charter school authorizers. Authorizers are entities –
such as school districts, state commissions or
nonprofits – that grant charter schools the right to
exist. They are also then responsible for ensuring
that the schools produce sufficient academic results
and comply with relevant laws and regulations. If a
school fails to do so, an authorizer is supposed to
revoke the school’s charter and shut them down. The
quality of charter school authorizing ranges widely
throughout the United States.</span>
<p><span>Section 13.04 of the bill states that either
Puerto Rico’s education department or a Puerto Rican
university can authorize charter schools. This
language has raised concerns that Puerto Rico will
open the floodgates to many charter authorizers like
in Michigan – a state that has earned a reputation
for having notoriously lax charter oversight. The
more there are, the easier it is for bad charters </span><a
href="http://www.qualitycharters.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Authorizer_Shopping_Lessons_Ideas.pdf"><span>to
shop around</span></a><span> for an authorizer
that will let them stay open.</span></p>
<p><span>Karega Rausch, the interim CEO of the National
Association of Charter School Authorizers, told The
Intercept that their group does not have a
hard-and-fast rule, or even guiding data, on the
number of authorizers a jurisdiction should have –
but they have observed that the overall quality of a
charter sector can be “diluted” in places with too
many authorizers. (Places like D.C., New Jersey and
Massachusetts have just one charter authorizer,
while states like Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota have
many.)</span></p>
<p><span>Keleher, Puerto Rico’s education secretary,
said she expects the legislation to be amended to
allow for just one authorizer. “I think we’d want to
stay away from having two based on what we
understand as effective practice,” she said. The
island’s senate is still holding public hearings on
the bill.</span></p>
<p><span>Multiple news outlets this month</span><a
href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2018/02/challenges_facing_charter_schools_in_puerto-rico.html">
<span>reported</span></a><span> that Puerto Rico
aims to start with 14 charter schools, two in each
of the island’s seven provinces. </span></p>
<p><span>Keleher told The Intercept that this has never
been a formal plan, and her off-the-cuff remarks
were interpreted by the media as something she never
intended. “People were asking me how many we would
have, so I was trying to answer the question and
suggested maybe two per region,” she said. “The next
thing I know people are asking me where I’m going to
get these 14 [charter] applications. I just said
that number because two per region seemed reasonable
to manage, so I thought it was a number that could
help calm people down.”</span></p>
<p><span>Keleher says the department has no plans to do
what New Orleans did following Hurricane Katrina,
and that it should develop a formula to limit the
number of charter schools in Puerto Rico. But, she
said, that formula needs to be flexible and should
be handled by education department after the law is
passed. “If the schools are super successful and
more people want them, we should allow that up to a
point,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>The proposed legislation would also allow for
the creation of virtual charters in Puerto Rico – a
particularly contentious type of online school, even</span><a
href="https://www.the74million.org/article/study-online-charter-schools-not-making-the-grade/">
<span>among school choice supporters</span></a><span>.
(DeVos is a</span><a
href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/08/education-betsy-devos-online-charter-schools-poor-results-243556">
<span>big proponent</span></a><span> of virtual
charters, and a former investor in them herself.)</span></p>
<blockquote class="stylized pull-right"
data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right">The
proposed legislation would also allow for the creation
of virtual charters in Puerto Rico — <span>a
particularly contentious type of online school, even
among school choice supporters.</span><span></span></blockquote>
<p><span>Keleher acknowledged the concerns around
virtual charters, but says she remains optimistic
about their potential. “I’ve taught in online
classrooms,” she said. “It requires discipline and
fidelity, and it may not be right for everyone.” She
emphasized the importance of providing “options,”
which she said could help bring new infusions of
funds to the island. “If you look at what the
president is prioritizing</span><a
href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/02/trump_education_budget_2019_5_percent_cut_school_choice_push.html">
<span>in his new budget</span></a><span>, there’s a
lot of emphasis on educational options,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>In general Keleher advocates for an approach
that leaves the charter law fairly vague (or as she
calls, it “flexible”) so that her department can
then craft regulations as it sees fit.</span></p>
<p><span>“We don’t want the law to be so tied to the
reality of today,” she said. “We want to make it
function as a lever to get the [education]
department to behave in a way that we will produce
strong results.” She pointed out that their last
education law was incredibly detailed, “but very
poorly implemented” and so this time they tried to
go in the opposite direction. “We want to be sure
that the system is responsive, rather than every
time you want to adjust your program you have to
amend your law,” she said.</span></p>
<p><span>The idea of creating an ambiguous law
understandably has not eased much anxiety amongst
Puerto Rico residents concerned about the pitfalls
of school choice.</span></p>
<p><span>Even Ziebarth of the National Alliance of
Public Charter Schools says it’s better to put more
into the charter law than less. “We tend to try to
get as much into the law as we can, and while some
decisions make sense left to regulation, I think if
they have a chance to pass a strong charter law
that’s better,” he said. “I think we know enough
about what the fundamentals should look like –
particularly around flexibility, accountability and
funding – that they can put that in statute now and
not go back later and deal with it.”</span></p>
<p><span>Ziebarth adds that especially if Puerto Rico is
considering going down the road of virtual charter
schools, the island should include </span><a
href="https://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Virtuals-FINAL-06202016-1.pdf"><span>their
six policy recommendations</span></a><span>. “They
should definitely not repeat the mistakes that
others have made in that area,” he said.</span></p>
<p><span>Vouchers for private schools are included in
the education reform bill, but they would likely not
be implemented until after charter schools get
started. Keleher</span><a
href="https://www.the74million.org/post-maria-puerto-rico-looks-to-charter-schools-vouchers-as-part-of-new-education-reform-strategy/">
<span>told </span><span>The 74</span></a> <span>that
given their budget situation, “it’s not something we
can execute right now for obvious reasons.”</span></p>
<p><span>In 1994, back when Rosselló’s father, Pedro
Rosselló, was governor, Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court</span><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/05/us/voucher-plan-for-students-is-struck-down.html">
<span>struck down a proposal</span></a><span> to
establish a school voucher program. Puerto Rico’s
leadership believes a series of court decisions
issued over the past two decades, including </span><a
href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-06-26/private-school-choice-advocates-cheer-us-supreme-court-ruling"><span>from
the U.S. Supreme Court</span></a><span>, have now
paved the legal path for them to move forward with
school vouchers. </span></p>
<p><span><u>A recent trip</u> taken by Rosselló has
exacerbated concerns that he is not seriously
grappling with the risks of his proposed education
reforms.</span></p>
<p><span>Last week he visited an ASPIRA charter school
in Philadelphia, and tweeted out after his visit
that it represents an “excellent charter school
model.”</span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p><span>But just two months ago Philadelphia</span><a
href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/src-votes-to-shut-a-troubled-philly-charter-starts-process-for-2-more-20171214.html">
<span>voted to close two</span></a><span> ASPIRA
charter schools for their low academic quality, as
well as a host of financial scandals and
mismanagement issues. For years there have been
concerns that ASPIRA was self-dealing with public
funds, and the situation was difficult to track
because each ASPIRA charter is structured as an
independent nonprofit, despite all sharing the same
board of trustees through their parent organization.
“It’s very difficult to follow the financial trail
when there are so many complicated, connected
entities, and money flowing throughout them,” said
an official working in the Philadelphia School
District official</span><a
href="https://whyy.org/articles/aspira-charter-provider-on-thin-ice-philly-school-district-says/">
<span>in 2014</span></a><span>. A former accounts
payable coordinator at ASPIRA also</span><a
href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160104_A_former_principal_alleged_charter_operator_misused_federal_funds.html">
<span>filed a federal whistle blower lawsuit</span></a><span>
in 2014, alleging that the charter operator
misappropriated more than $1 million in federal
funds. The employee charged that ASPIRA made
“repeated false representations” to the U.S. and
state Departments of Education “in an effort to
defraud the United States of taxpayer dollars, under
the guise of providing quality education to some of
the nation’s neediest students.” ASPIRA dismissed
the charges as politically motivated. Then in 2016
news emerged that ASPIRA’s CEO had paid a top
employee</span><a
href="http://www.fox29.com/news/local-news/fox-29-investigates/fox-29-investigates-aspiras-350k-sex-harassment-case-payout">
<span>$350,000</span></a><span> in a sexual
harassment settlement. Another former senior
employee</span><a
href="http://www.philly.com/philly/education/former-academic-leader-sues-aspira-says-she-lost-her-job-for-backing-sexual-harassment-claim-20170901.html">
<span>filed a lawsuit</span></a><span> claiming she
had been wrongfully terminated for helping her
colleague file that sexual harassment complaint.</span></p>
<p><span>Díaz, the teachers union president, told the
Intercept that Rosselló has been unresponsive to
their concerns.</span></p>
<p><span>Randi Weingarten, president of the American
Federation of Teachers, said Puerto Rico’s governor
should be ashamed of himself. “He pretends that he’s
a Democratic governor, but his playbook on schools
is right out of Trump and DeVos,” she told The
Intercept. “He won’t even tell the people of Puerto
Rico what he’s doing as he secretly travels to an
ASPIRA charter for a tour.” Weingarten says his
behavior is “just baffling” and “one wonders who he
is listening to.”</span></p>
<p><span>Keleher, for her part, emphasized that she’s
trying to be very transparent and accessible with
Puerto Ricans to discuss the reforms. This week her
department</span><a
href="http://www.elvocero.com/educacion/educaci-n-realiza-conversatorio-sobre-las-escuelas-charter/article_7d3f4b44-165e-11e8-8070-fbbb2aa43cca.html">
<span>organized a forum</span></a><span> and last
week she</span><a
href="https://www.metro.pr/pr/noticias/2018/02/18/padres-cuestionan-reforma-educativa-ante-keleher.html">
<span>met with parents</span></a><span> from each
region of the island.</span></p>
<p><span>“The governor appointed me and I am fully
accountable to the people,” she said. “You can like
my decision or not but I think I’m responsible for
showing you how I got my decision, and at the end of
the day I have to take the hit.”</span></p>
<blockquote class="stylized pull-left"
data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="left">“He
pretends that he’s a Democratic governor, but his
playbook on schools is right out of Trump and DeVos.”</blockquote>
<p><span>Still, the education secretary’s engagement
with the public hasn’t always gone smoothly. Last
week during a union-sponsored Q&A, Keleher </span><a
href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/juliakeleherexplicaporqueabandonolaasambleademaestros-2399580/"><span>abruptly
stormed out</span></a><span> when one teacher said
the education secretary should return when she’s
more prepared to answer their questions. </span><span><br>
</span></p>
<p><span>“Before this bill we were working together, we
understood each other, and we agreed on many
things,” Díaz told The Intercept. “But right now
communications are stopped, I don’t think [the
government] wants to understand our point of view.”</span></p>
<p><span>Indeed the question of whether charter schools
in Puerto Rico would be unionized remains an open
one. The proposed legislation says nothing about it.
Most states do not require charter teachers to be in
unions – indeed being union-free is seen by many
charter advocates as a key characteristic of the
model – but a few states, including Maryland and
Hawaii, require it.</span></p>
<p><span>Keleher told The Intercept that they are
staying intentionally “silent on the union issue”
though she’s “not adamantly opposed if in the
context of Puerto Rico” unionized charters seem like
the best way to do it. She said, though, that if
charter school operators want to come and oppose
doing so with a unionized staff, she “would also
understand and respect that” and she’s “very much in
a let’s-see-what-makes-the-most-sense” position. </span></p>
<p><span>The last time Puerto Rico passed major
education reforms was in the 1990s, and some
elements of the controversial bill have attracted
support from union members. Aside from the $1,500
pay hikes, Díaz says her union also likes the new
procedures outlined around making school budgeting
more transparent, and creating regional education
offices.</span></p>
<p><span>“But the rest of the bill is unacceptable to
us, and we cannot support it,” she said. For now the
</span><span>Asociación de Maestros de Puerto Rico</span><span>
will continue mobilizing against the charter and
voucher proposals, and Díaz said they are also going
to start more vocally championing for public schools
that provide robust wraparound social services.</span></p>
<p><span>“These kids and their parents have been
traumatized,” said Weingarten. “Let’s try to create
some stability in Puerto Rico after this terrible
storm.”</span></p>
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