San Juan, Puerto Rico – Governor Wanda Vazquez currently has in her hands a bill that had been veto previously due to opposition by the Fiscal Control Board under the premise that it creates additional government bureaucracy and cost, but that has been presented again passing through both legislative bodies in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The proposed law 1945 is an attempt of Puerto Rico’s government to minimize programs and the ability for students with special needs to qualify for assistance as described by dozens of organizations and community leaders that appose this bill.
In short, Puerto Rico House Bill 1945, seeks to create a new Special Education Law that will create an extensive administrative process that will discourage families from seeking programs that help students with disabilities.
Quote from earlier reports: “Fewer rights, more bureaucracy and government power against Special Education students, is what they intend with this project under the tale of wanting to increase compliance,” said the mother and spokesperson for the group, Linda Ramos.
“The project eliminates early intervention services for infants from birth to 3 years of age, their transition to the preschool level is not tempered with the required transition of students to a post-secondary life. Neither does it address the need to defend the rights to adequate special education for minors whose parental authority is held by the state, nor does it create mechanisms to meet the needs of students with disabilities who are in the custody of grandparents, and others just as important.” she added.
“This has been a long and exhausting process to help fight for the rights of children with disabilities, and for the past two years the current government in Puerto Rico has been attempting to eliminate theses rights with the stroke of pen…”, said Milagros Cancel, President of Comite Timon in New York City, “defending this vulnerable population is a moral obligation”.
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