Lennie Jarratt
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Hedge fund managers are telling politicians and school administrators in Puerto Rico to fire teachers so they can get paid, according to several recent articles on the debt situation in San Juan. A few other, actual headlines are:
- Alternet: “Hedge Funds Tell Puerto Rico: Lay Off Teachers and Close Schools to Pay Us Back”
- The Guardian: “Hedge funds tell Puerto Rico: lay off teachers and close schools to pay us back”
- The Higher Learning: “Hedge Funds to Puerto Rico: Fire Teachers and Close Schools to Pay Off Your Debt”
- The Independent: “Puerto Rico should close schools and sack teachers to pay back its debts, hedge funds say”
- Latina: “Really? Hedge Funds Are Telling Puerto Rico to Close Their Schools & Fire Teachers”
- Orlando Weekly: “Hedge funds: Puerto Rico, it’s us or the kids”
- Time: “Hedge Fund Economists Want Puerto Rico to Lay Off Teachers to Fix Debt Crisis”
These headlines certainly aimed to inflame emotions. The question is what did the report actually say and are these headlines accurate? The report called for higher taxes, cutting expenses and structural reforms. To focus on education here, the report stated, “Reduce number of teachers to fit the size of the student population”. The following chart was included: 
As the chart states, “Education expenditures increased 39% or $1.4 billion in the past decade while total school enrollment declined ~25%.” While, the report did call for a reduction in the teaching workforce, the call was much broader in nature and aimed at helping Puerto Rico become fiscally stable again. The Guardian reported, “Puerto Rico’s current education spending works out at $8,400 per student, below the US national average of $10,667.” This amount is 78.7 percent of the US national average in spending. While the Puerto Rico education expenditures increased 39 percent from 2004 – 2013, the US national average has increased only 11 percent. US student population grew by about 2.6 percent over this time period contrasted to Puerto Rico’s student population decline of approximately 25%. The reality of the expenditure growth versus the population decline clearly demonstrate the politicized nature of education and its associated spending. The mantra of “it’s for the children” is ingrained with in society and allows those within the education system and its defenders an attack vehicle to silence debate, demonize any dissenting voices, and protect the system from economic realities.
