2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHTEEN - Education (§§ 1 — 3510-3520) › PART I - Public Schools (§§ 1 — 596d) › Chapter 3 - Secretary of Education (§§ 31 — 61) › § 53 - Program for production and dissemination of educational, informational, and cultural material—Powers of Secretary of Education

For the purpose of expediting the effective implementation of the provisions of §§ 52—55 of this title, the Secretary of Education is hereby authorized:
(1) To publish and disseminate all kinds of educational, informational and cultural material produced under this program, both for use of the school system as well as for the use of any department or agency of the Government of Puerto Rico that requests it, or of the general public. Provided, furthermore, That they shall be distributed, free of charge, to entities, organizations and centers that group the elderly.
(2) To sell or rent the material or services of this program, to fix the price thereof and to cover the proceeds of the sale or rent into a working capital fund which is hereby created and which shall be known as the “Working Capital Fund of the Editorial Program of the Department of Education”. The various programs, divisions, and other dependencies of the Department of Education are hereby authorized, with the previous approval of the Secretary of Education, to make to said Fund, at the beginning of every fiscal year, or at any time during the course thereof, total or partial advances, whenever the needs of the service so require. The amounts to be so advanced shall be those estimated as the value of the materials to be sold or leased and the services to be rendered to them by said Editorial Program of the Department of Education. Both the purchases and leases of materials and the contracting of services shall be subject to the requirements and legal means of every program, division or dependency. The requisition for materials and services shall be chargeable to the sums advanced to each program, division or dependency. Provided, further, That for Fiscal Year 2013-2014, one million dollars ($1,000,000) shall be transferred from this Fund to the “2013-2014 Budget Support Fund”.
(3) To integrate within this program all the means, facilities, funds, appropriations or personnel of the divisions and dependencies of the Department of Education engaged in the production of educational material.
(4) To select, appoint, contract for and train the necessary personnel. This authorization includes the power to contract for the services of teachers practicing in the public schools or of any teacher holding a valid license to practice his profession and for the services of other officers or employees of the Department of Education and of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its instrumentalities, political subdivisions, public corporations and subsidiaries thereof, and pay them adequate compensation for whatever additional services they may render to the Department of Education outside their regular working hours. The Secretary of Education is also hereby empowered to contract for such professional, technical and consulting services as may be necessary for the carrying out of the purposes of §§ 52—55 of this title. The positions of professionals, technicians and consultants under this program shall not be subject to the provisions of Act No. 345 of May 12, 1947.
(5) To acquire all kinds of machinery, equipment and material required and to incur any other expenses likewise necessary for the setting up and the efficient operation of this program, irrespective of the provisions of Act No. 150 of May 9, 1945.
(6) To take from stock a limited amount of all material produced and turn it over gratis to the libraries and the educational and cultural institutions of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, of any state, possession or territory of the Union, of other countries and of entities connected with the United Nations Organization, on a cultural exchange basis.
(7) Shall have power to authorize other jurisdictions of the United States and nonprofit organizations to reproduce printed educational material produced by the Department of Education’s Editorial Press when the material is to be used for noncommercial educational purposes.
(8) To draft and promulgate necessary rules and regulations for the efficient operation of the program.
History —Apr. 26, 1954, No. 22, p. 146, § 2; June 15, 1956, No. 50, p. 156, § 1; June 10, 1959, No. 29, p. 88; June 18, 1971, No. 35, p. 113, § 1; June 13, 1977, No. 63, p. 130; May 22, 1996, No. 46, § 2; June 30, 2013, No. 43, § 10, eff. July 1, 2013.