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According to a report by Comptroller Yesmín Valdivieso, Education paid $335,793 for water and electricity services at schools closed since 2017

Closed school in the Mayagüez educational region (Provided)

Comptroller Yesmín Valdivieso issued on Wednesday a qualified opinion of the fiscal operations of the Mayagüez Regional Educational Office (OREM) of the Department of Education.

The one-finding Report reveals that the Department of Education paid $335,793 for drinking water and electric power services at schools closed since 2017. These services were not suspended until as late as four years after closure. From 2017 to 2018, 90 schools were closed in the Mayagüez educational region.

In fact, as of July 7, 2022, the Department paid $47,379 for seven electric power accounts that remained active or in use at three of the closed schools. These unnecessary payments could have been used in the Department's operations and, in addition, outside parties could have benefited from the water and electricity services at the schools.

Of the visits made to ten of the closed schools, eight were identified as being in a state of abandonment, five of them vandalized and filled with debris. The auditors also found abandoned equipment and instructional materials, controlled-substance paraphernalia, persons unconnected to the institution, and one of the schools served as a stable for 14 horses.

The Office for the Improvement of Public Schools did not provide maintenance for the closed schools, and the Department did not issue any instructions in this regard either.

In addition, four of the schools visited had confidential administrative and academic documents, and no documents related to the closure were located, such as: the physical inventory, the sheet of transferred materials, or the equipment disposal certification prepared by the school principal, among others.

The audit notes that the Department did not measure compliance with the objectives of the school consolidation and closure process. A special assistant to the secretary and the OREM superintendent confirmed that they did not have information on the economic impact, the impact on students, and the quality of services offered after the school closures.

The auditors identified four school buildings under the custody of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, occupied by two municipalities and two nonprofit corporations without a written lease agreement. One of the schools served as a Southwest Head Start and Early Head Start. Another of the buildings was occupied by a nonprofit corporation whose president used one of the classrooms as his residence.

This first report on the Mayagüez Regional Educational Office covers the period from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022, and is available at www.ocpr.gov.pr.