Puerto Rico to decentralize its Education Department in bid to improve services

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s government says it will decentralize its Education Department to better serve students. Monday’s announcement comes amid ongoing criticism that the department is inefficient, corrupt and struggling to stem an increase in dropouts. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona traveled to the U.S. territory for the announcement and said he supports the change to overcome what he described as the system’s challenges. Officials are expected to outline a decentralization plan and submit it to the governor and island’s education secretary within three months. The change is expected to help deploy federal resources more quickly to where they are needed and give regions and schools more autonomy.