2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHTEEN - Education (§§ 1 — 3510-3520) › PART VI - Private Schools (§§ 2101 — 2320) › Chapter 121 - Regulation of Operation of Private Schools (§§ 2101 — 2133) › Subchapter II - Establishment and Operation of Private Educational Institutions at the Preschool, Elementary, High School, Vocational, Technical or Non-University Post-Secondary Levels (§§ 2111 — 2125) › § 2123 - License—Denial, cancellation or suspension; hearing; reconsideration; review

When the Secretary of Education, after the corresponding examination of a petition for a license, determines that the granting of such license is not in order, or that a previously granted license should be suspended or cancelled for violations of this chapter or the regulations promulgated thereunder, he shall notify the educational institution concerned, in writing, by certified mail with acknowledgment of receipt, stating the reasons that justify said action. Provided, however, That prior to making the decision to cancel or suspend a license, the institution concerned shall be granted a six (6) -month period to correct the faults which, if not corrected in accordance with the regulations, shall justify the cancellation of the license.
In any situation where the Secretary finds that a license which has been petitioned should not be granted or that a license already granted should be cancelled or suspended for noncompliance with the law or the regulations promulgated thereunder, the affected person or entity shall be entitled to question said action of the Secretary of Education through the holding of an administrative hearing of evidentiary or adversary nature in which the burden of proof shall be borne by the Secretary of Education. Said hearing shall be presided over by an independent examining official, who is unconnected with the Department of Education, and is not a government employee. In this hearing both parties shall be entitled to legal representation, to introduce witnesses, require documents and to confront them with the evidence of the other party. A stenographic or tachygraphic record of the procedures shall be kept.
The affected party shall request said hearing no later than twenty (20) days after receiving the adjudication that is being questioned. The petitioner shall be notified of the date of the hearing at least fifteen (15) days prior to the holding thereof and which shall be held within thirty (30) days from having requested it.
The Examining Official thus designated shall remit a report to the Secretary of Education which shall include the findings of facts based on the evidence introduced and accepted in the administrative hearing and the conclusions of law. The Secretary of Education shall issue his decision according to the opinion and recommendations of the Examining Official. The decision of the Secretary shall be rendered within thirty (30) days after the administrative hearing is held and if the Secretary does not take any action within said term, he shall have to issue the license petitioned.
The petitioner who receives an adverse decision as the result of the administrative hearing may request the reconsideration of the decision of the Secretary within fifteen (15) days following the date on which he was notified of the decision. This petition for reconsideration shall be adjudicated within thirty (30) days after the date it was filed by the petitioner. If the reconsideration is denied, the petitioner may resort to the part of the Court of First Instance of Puerto Rico corresponding to the place of residence of the petitioner with a petition for review within thirty (30) days following the date he was notified of the denial of the administrative reconsideration. If the Secretary of Education does not adjudicate the petition for reconsideration within the term of thirty (30) days established above it shall be understood for all the purposes of this chapter that the same has been denied. The Secretary shall make available to the court the records of the administrative procedures and the tachygraphic [sic] or stenographic transcription of the administrative hearing, without any cost to the petitioner.
All notices of administrative hearings, decisions or adjudications by the Secretary shall be sent by certified mail with acknowledgment of receipt; Provided, That in the case of a suspension or cancellation, the operation of the educational institution shall not be halted while the case is in the process of an administrative hearing, a reconsideration before the Secretary, or a judicial action has been filed.
History —May 10, 1976, No. 31, p. 78, added as § II-13 on June 30, 1988, No. 49, p. 220, § 2.