Only Three South Coast Schools Are Under Construction Nearly Six Years After the Earthquakes, as the Federal Funding Clock Runs Out

Nearly six years after the earthquake sequence that shook southwestern Puerto Rico in January 2020, only three schools in that region are currently under construction, even as the government approaches the deadlines to spend billions of dollars in federal recovery funds. That is what the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience (COR3) confirmed this week, in a report that laid bare the backlog in public school reconstruction ¹.

COR3's interim executive director, María L. Marín Colón, explained that the Department of Education has 188 approved projects with $1.5 billion allocated to repair or rebuild schools damaged by Hurricane María and the 2020 earthquakes ¹. The agency projects that by January 2027 about 80 earthquake-affected schools will be in the construction phase, but today, in the southern region — the hardest hit by the seismic sequence — only three have reached that stage ¹. Marín Colón attributed the slow pace to the fact that earthquake-related school projects must demonstrate structural viability and meet cost-reasonableness analyses required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has delayed the designs ¹.

One concrete example is Asunción Rodríguez de Sala High School in Guayanilla, one of the municipalities hit hardest by the earthquakes. Its reconstruction was awarded to the firm Caribe Tecno CFL for $24,990,001, and will include special-education classrooms with their own bathrooms, a basketball court and gymnasium area, a new facade, security doors and windows, modern furniture, and air conditioning in half of the academic classrooms ¹.

The clock is running on two fronts. Funds obligated for Hurricane María reconstruction, totaling $34.7 billion, must be used before December 31, 2027. The $4.1 billion obligated to address damage from the 2020 earthquakes expires January 16, 2028 ¹. If municipalities, agencies, or nonprofits fail to complete the work in time, they risk losing the allocation altogether.

The backlog is not unique to schools. According to COR3's quarterly progress report as of June 30, 2026, of 12,089 approved projects with $24.4 billion obligated across the island, only 6,114 are complete and 10,712 are under construction, putting 78% of projects at some stage of execution ². Disbursements have also fallen: from $2.414 billion in 2024 to $1.665 billion in 2025, and $1.485 billion so far through September 2026, even though this year's goal is $2.5 billion ¹².

Marín Colón attributed part of the delay to two federal decisions. First, FEMA barred COR3 from continuing to automatically disburse a 25% working capital advance on obligated project funds, forcing the Puerto Rican agency to return roughly $800 million during 2025 and 2026 that subrecipients must now reapply for once they are ready to execute the work ². Second, a 2025 directive from then-U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem required her personal approval for any purchase, grant, or contract exceeding $100,000, causing delays of three to five months. That requirement was eliminated in mid-April 2026, after Noem left office ².

What this means for you

If you have children, nieces, nephews, or grandchildren in a public school in the southwest, they will likely keep attending classes in modular facilities or in buildings with pending repairs for several more years, even if the government meets its January 2027 target. For teachers and principals in Guayanilla, Guánica, Yauco, Peñuelas, and neighboring municipalities, this means continuing to work with limited space, air conditioning, or specialized facilities while designs move forward. And for taxpayers, the real risk is that if the work is not finished before the federal deadlines, Puerto Rico could lose funds that have already been obligated and will not be reallocated.

How to check / Checklist

1. Check the status of your community's school on COR3's Transparency Portal (recovery.pr.gov), which publishes projects by municipality along with their current phase.
2. If your school has an unresolved short-column structural issue or other earthquake damage, ask the School Council or the school's administration for a direct update from the Department of Education on the project's timeline.
3. Attend or follow public hearings held by the House Education Commission, where the pace of the work is scrutinized and specific school-by-school information can be requested.
4. If your municipality is executing work as a FEMA fund subrecipient, confirm with the municipal recovery office whether it has already reapplied for the working capital advance that FEMA restricted, to avoid further delays.
5. Report any unsafe school condition (cracks, visible short columns, compromised roofing) directly to the Department of Education's Assistant Secretariat of General Services, and keep a dated copy of the request.

What's next

COR3 has until September 20, 2026 for 573 reconstruction projects tied to Hurricane María and the earthquakes to finish critical work under extensions FEMA has already approved — a deadline that lands just days after this report ¹. The agency projects that school construction will pick up pace toward January 2027, when it expects roughly 80 earthquake-related schools to be under construction, but the real test will be whether Puerto Rico can execute billions of dollars in just fifteen months before the recovery's largest federal deadlines begin to expire, in December 2027 and January 2028.

Sources

1. Metro Puerto Rico — "Miles de proyectos en reconstrucción siguen pendientes mientras se acerca el vencimiento de fondos federales" (September 16, 2026)
2. El Vocero — "COR3 atribuye a FEMA retrasos en fondos de reconstrucción" (September 17, 2026)
3. COR3 Transparency Portal — Earthquake Response
4. FEMA — Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria (DR-4339-PR)