A classification and pay plan for the Puerto Rico Education Department’s non-teaching employees could cost $59.4 million a year, Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés told the House of Representatives’ Treasury Committee on Monday. The proposal is still under evaluation by the Financial Oversight Board. In response to committee chair Rep. Eddie Charbonier Chinea, Ramos Parés said Education will deliver a new version of the budget proposal to the Board and the Office of Management and Budget (OGP) by next Monday at the latest, with the justifications, comparative analyses and documentation both entities requested.
Responding to Rep. Gretchen Hau, he acknowledged it would be the fifth version submitted to the Board. The plan has been under discussion since December 2024. It seeks to give some of the agency’s 11,811 non-teaching employees, who have not received a raise since 1997, pay closer to the private sector.
It will not account for each employee’s years of service. Ramos Parés said 8,793 employees, or 74 percent, could be eligible for salary adjustments, while about 3,018, or 26 percent, would see no economic impact because their current salary already exceeds the minimum of their class’s scale. If approved, OGP must identify funding; its executive director, Orlando Rivera Berríos, said the funds must be recurring.
Education’s certified budget is $4.07 billion, about $1.14 billion (21.9%) less than the prior fiscal year, mainly due to lower federal funds. Rivera Berríos said the agency has relied on temporary federal funds for recurring expenses, now pressuring the General Fund.