SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico is closing 184 public schools in a move expected to save millions of dollars amid a deep economic crisis that has sparked an exodus to the U.S. mainland in the past decade, officials said Friday.
An estimated 27,000 students will be moved elsewhere when their schools close at the end of May, Education Department spokeswoman Yolanda Rosaly told The Associated Press.
No further details were immediately available. Rosaly said Education Secretary Julia Keleher would provide more details soon.
It is the largest mass closure of schools announced in the history of the U.S. territory. Officials shuttered 150 schools over the span of five years from 2010 to 2015.
Opponents of previous school closures say that transportation logistics and special education needs were not taken into account. An estimated 30 percent of Puerto Rico students receive specialized education, twice the average in the U.S. mainland.