The secretary of the United States Department of Education, Miguel Cardona, today expressed his dissatisfaction with the salary of teachers in Puerto Rico.
“I spoke with the governor about this and we agree. We have to pay the teachers here a decent salary. Not only in Puerto Rico, but in the entire country to ensure that we are giving teachers the income they deserve,” Cardona said to questions from the press.
“In Puerto Rico, specifically, the payment is very low,” he added.
He expressed that he was glad to learn that in Puerto Rico educators received an additional thousand dollars a month, however, he classified the increase as insufficient.
“When I came here last year I talked to teachers who have doctorate degrees earning only three thousand dollars a month. That’s not enough. I want the children here in Puerto Rico to have the best education. We have to pay the professionals the salary they can earn elsewhere or they leave and I don’t want that,” Cardona said.
“We are going to continue supporting teachers, giving them a salary where they can continue with their families, buy a house, do the things they have to do. It is not fair that teachers with master’s degrees are working on weekends to have more income. It is also not fair that those same teachers pay out of their pockets for educational materials”, he concluded.
The expressions of the US Federal Secretary of Education were given after his appearance at the Lulac Convention.
