Puerto Rico to close 184 schools

Puerto Rico will close 184 public schools as part of a broad effort to pull the U.S. territory out of a crippling debt crisis, officials announced Friday.

Roughly 27,000 students — mostly from kindergarten through fourth grade — and 2,700 teachers will be affected by the closures, which are set to take place before next school year.

The U.S. territory is in deep economic crisis. Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Wednesday that the commonwealth has filed for a type of bankruptcy to help restructure its more than $70 billion in debt after negotiations with multiple creditors failed.

The financial trouble has deepened as many people have left for the U.S. mainland in search of better jobs. Consequently, the population of school children has been in steep decline, making the education system an inviting target for cuts.

Between 2010 and 2015, Puerto Rico closed 150 schools, according to the Associated Press. This new round will be the largest in Puerto Rico’s history.

“What we saw in the past 30 years is that the number of students in the public school system has radically declined by something like 20 or 30 percent,” said Arturo Porzecanski, an economist at American University in Washington.

Mr. Porzecanski said he supports the closures, but would have favored doing it gradually. “Government agencies should have been whittled down proportionally, and now this is all happening during one of the worst moments in Puerto Rico’s history,” he said.

The restructuring of the school system took several months, Julia Keleher, its secretary of education, said at a news conference. Students from schools that are set to close have been assigned to other schools. But transportation is likely to be an issue, because many of the schools that were told to close their doors are in far-flung rural areas.

Teachers will be relocated according to their seniority, Ms. Keleher said. Non-teaching employees will be transferred to schools near their homes, and principals and other supporting staff will be relocated to schools that need additional assistance.

But teachers and parents on Friday expressed frustration over the closures and concern over the quality of education students will receive.

“No to the closing of schools,” Shakira Cabrera, a concerned resident, wrote on Facebook. “If they want to save money, then reduce the salary for themselves and stop playing with the children’s education.”