School transportation providers took to the streets in a protest on Monday over a multimillion-dollar debt the Puerto Rico Department of Education owes for services already provided. José Rosado Rolón, president of the Federación de Porteadores Escolares (school carriers federation), estimated the debt at about $9 million for services through May of this year. Of that amount, roughly $3 million corresponds to 2025 debts.
He said 225 companies operate with the Department, and the most serious cases involve about 40 to 50 companies, many of them among those moving the highest volume of students. Rosado Rolón said the situation is causing "an extremely critical liquidity situation," since that money is the cash flow the companies use to start operations in August.
The protest began around 9:00 AM on Kennedy Avenue in San Juan, with plans to move to the Financial Oversight and Management Board, the Education Department’s central offices, the Capitol and La Fortaleza. He could not say how many students would be left without service Monday because of the demonstration, but noted some students’ transportation was interrupted earlier.
Since last week, some companies stopped providing service because they lacked the liquidity to keep operating or pay employees, though he did not say how many. He recalled that carriers protested in the summer and warned of possible problems at the start of the school year, when the debt stood at about $12 million. According to the latest information from Education, a funding request was made to the Office of Management and Budget (OGP).