61% of education budget goes to administration, secretary tells transition panel

By The Star Staff

Education Secretary Yanira Raíces Vega said Tuesday in a hearing before the Incoming Transition Committee hearing that the agency spends 61% of its budget on administrative and operational expenses.

Raíces Vega said “if you want to maximize the funds to increase the dollar per student, you have to make adjustments like closing schools.”

“l am going to touch on subjects that people don’t want to touch on, but for me I have had to work on,” she added.

Sixty-one percent of the agency’s annual budget is spent on human resources, between salaries and retirement, Raíces Vega said.

“We have a situation here where people say ‘you have the students,’ and I say it’s a situation of inventory,” she said.

“I’ll give you an example without naming municipalities,” Raíces Vega continued. “I have municipalities where I have five schools and in the five schools 620 students don’t fit which could fit in one school, but I have to keep four schools open.

“This is the situation that we see,” she added. “There is a bad distribution. The recommendation is administratively to make a better distribution.”

“I’m not sure to say close schools because ‘boo,’ you’re afraid,” the official said. “If you want to keep them open you can do it. But you have to make a better distribution.”