Meta did not admit liability for the harm its Instagram and Facebook platforms cause among children and young people, but at least half of Puerto Rico’s settlement is expected to go toward remedies for minors.

Although the initiative was announced as starting in August, it will launch two months later.

Applications to the Puerto Rico Department of Education for vouchers, or educational certificates, that allow students to transfer to private schools fell 76% between 2020 and 2025.

Thirty-one percent of student loan borrowers in Puerto Rico are more than nine months behind on payments, according to the U.S. Department of Education, a situation that could jeopardize access to Pell Grants at institutions with high default rates.

Studies show that reading proficiently by the end of third grade is linked to students’ future academic success.

The agreement was signed one week after the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo revealed a deadlock with the university president’s office that left the research institution without access to recurring funds for more than 10 months.

More than 10 months after an agreement expired, the UPR Molecular Center is at risk of halting infrastructure improvements and essential purchases tied to the research of 42 scientists and 225 students.

The university has not updated its fiscal plan since 2021. After missing this year’s March 24 deadline, it received an extension from the FOMB, but the May 1 final approval date remains unchanged.

The U.S. Department of Education’s demands under the Trump administration — struck down a month ago by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire — led to the elimination of an inclusion committee and the suspension of a census of Afro-descendant students at the University of Puerto Rico.

As Homeland Security Investigations in Puerto Rico does not rule out immigration enforcement operations at universities, professors, students and staff still do not know how to respond if agents intervene on campus.

In addition to eliminating inclusive restrooms at the Río Piedras campus, the university system voided guarantees of access and nondiscrimination for transgender students and revised its Chosen Name Protocol, because of Trump administration measures targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The office’s creation followed the April approval of the Fundamental Right to Religious Freedom Act.

The island’s Department of Education is losing students, in part, due to a cycle of constant school relocations, deteriorating facilities, and shortened schedules from noon to 5 p.m., which are stopgap measures that fail to address the core problem: an unrepaired infrastructure, despite the availability of funds.

The federal Education Department is eliminating Hispanic-Serving Institutions and minority-focused programs, cutting $20.7 million that eight Puerto Rican universities received this academic year for research, infrastructure, and student support.

With a student body that is 97% Hispanic, Puerto Rico’s public and private universities face significant risk if a federal lawsuit to end grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions succeeds.

Despite record heat in Puerto Rico as of August 2023, public schools remain unprepared for increasingly frequent hot days. School communities also grapple with ongoing power outages.