The Free Schools of Music

They are three public schools dedicated exclusively to teaching musical art, created by statute in 1946 and located by the statute itself in San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez. The Act sets their mission, names the subjects taught, orders bands to be formed among students who arrive with musical knowledge, and puts the Secretary of Education in charge of appointing directors and professors and approving the study plan.

This Act does not publish who may enrol. It sets no minimum or maximum age, requires no residence, describes no audition or entrance examination, names no enrolment period and imposes no academic requirement on the student. The only thing it says about the student body is that bands are started among the students who already have musical knowledge when classes begin, which suggests those without it are also admitted, but the Act does not say so in those words and we do not assert it on its behalf. Admission requirements must be requested from the Department of Education or the school; they do not come from this text.

• The three free schools of music are established in the cities of San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez (Article 1).Verified against the official source
• The courses comprise solfège, music history, harmonic analysis and musical construction, instruments, singing and instrumental ensemble (Article 1).Verified against the official source
• Starting bands among the students who already have musical knowledge when classes begin is compulsory, as the base for later forming orchestras (Article 1).Verified against the official source
• The study plan is drawn up by each school’s faculty and submitted first to the Secretary of Education’s approval (Articles 4 and 6).Verified against the official source
• Every candidate for director must hold at least a master’s degree in School Administration and Supervision, or in Educational Leadership, or in Educational Management and Leadership (Article 3).Verified against the official source

• In a director-recruitment emergency, the district School Superintendent’s certification to the Secretary of Education that recruiting personnel with the minimum requirements has been impossible, accompanied by the list of teaching personnel in office with their academic degree and years of service (Article 3).
• If there are teachers with the minimum degree who are not interested in the post, a notification signed by the Superintendent documenting that lack of interest, attached to the certification (Article 3).

1. 1

   Step 1: What they are and where they are

   Article 1 creates three free schools of music and locates them by statute in the cities of San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez. They are dedicated exclusively, the text says, to the mission of developing and channelling our people’s innate artistic sensibility, through a systematic plan of teaching, learning, experimentation, dissemination and promotion of musical art. There are three and they are those three: the Act authorises no others and describes no way a new one would open.

2. 2

   Step 2: What is taught, per the Act itself

   There is no need to guess the curriculum because Article 1 names it: “The courses shall comprise classes in solfège, music history, harmonic analysis and musical construction, instruments, singing and instrumental ensemble.” And it adds an obligation that says much about how the schools work: “Starting bands among the students who already have musical knowledge when classes begin shall be compulsory, as the base for later forming orchestras.” That is, whoever arrives already knowing music joins a band early, and the orchestras come out of those later.

3. 3

   Step 3: Who is in charge today: the Secretary of Education

   Article 2 appears “Omitted” in the compilation, and the OGP compiler notes in brackets that Reorganisation Plan No. 4 of 1950 substituted the Board of Directors with the Secretary of Education. With that, Article 3 places in the Secretary the appointment of a director for each school, choosing the candidate who in their judgement has the best conditions of fitness, capacity and experience; the director so appointed may designate the auxiliary personnel they deem necessary and regulates discipline and internal order. Article 4 gives the Secretary the formulation of the regulations and the power of appointment and separation of directors and professors, and provides that professors be appointed by competitive examination.

4. 4

   Step 4: The master’s requirement to direct, and the emergency route

   This is the layer Act 190-2014 added. Every candidate for director must hold at least a master’s degree in School Administration and Supervision, or in Educational Leadership, or in Educational Management and Leadership. If a recruitment emergency arises requiring consideration of someone without that minimum, the School Superintendent of the district where the school sits must certify to the Secretary that recruiting personnel with the minimum requirements has been impossible, and send a list of the teaching personnel in office with their academic degree and years of service. Before considering that person, the Superintendent must check at the other free schools of music whether there are teachers with the minimum who want the post. And if there are but they are not interested, a notification signed by the Superintendent documenting it must be attached to the certification.

5. 5

   Step 5: The faculty and the study plan

   Article 5 says what each school’s faculty may comprise: teachers of solfège, harmony, singing, music history and music appreciation, string instruments, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments, orchestra teachers and piano teachers. It requires them to cooperate among themselves to achieve the greatest number of students and their most perfect preparation, and provides that they receive decorous salaries allowing them to live exclusively dedicated to their teaching work. Article 6 charges that same faculty with drawing up the study plan to govern its school, submitting it first to the Secretary of Education’s approval. The faculty makes the plan; the Secretary approves it.

6. 6

   Step 6: Where classes are held, and where the money comes from

   Article 7 allows the classrooms of Puerto Rico’s public schools to be used for the free schools’ music classes “during their initial period, with a view to building their own and more adequate buildings in the future.” Article 8 appropriated $50,000 for the upkeep and promotion of the three schools during fiscal year 1946-47 and to acquire the most pressing music library and instrumental equipment, and provided that a report with the three schools’ expense budget be prepared and submitted annually to the Governor and the Auditor, through the Budget Bureau Director, for inclusion in the general appropriations act. That $50,000 appropriation was for a 1946 fiscal year: it is not today’s budget and we do not present it as one.

7. 7

   Step 7: How to enrol: this Act does not say

   We say it plainly because it is what people look for most. Act 365-1946 publishes no minimum or maximum age, requires no residence, describes no audition or entrance examination, sets no enrolment period, names no documents for the student to present, imposes no cost and gives no addresses, telephones or portals for the three schools. Nor do we read the word “libres” (free) in the name as a declaration that tuition is free: the Act does not say so, and we will not assert it on its behalf. To enrol you must ask the Department of Education or the school; the procedure does not come from this text and we do not invent it.

The three schools are, by the Act’s own provision, in San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez. The agency in charge is the Department of Education: since Reorganisation Plan No. 4 of 1950 the Secretary of Education substituted the Board of Directors and appoints the directors, formulates the regulations and approves the study plan. The Act publishes no postal addresses, telephones, forms or portals for the schools, and we do not guess government internet addresses.

• Reading “libres” (free) as “free of charge”: the Act does not say what a student pays, and we do not assume it.
• Looking in this Act for admission requirements: it sets no age, residence, audition or entrance examination.
• Expecting an enrolment period in the text: the Act establishes none; that comes from the Department of Education.
• Believing there are free schools of music in more cities by statute: Article 1 names three, San Juan, Ponce and Mayagüez.
• Thinking the band is compulsory for the whole student body: Article 1 makes it compulsory among those who already have musical knowledge at the start.
• Citing the $50,000 as the current budget: it was the fiscal year 1946-47 appropriation.
• Assuming the Board of Directors still exists: Reorganisation Plan No. 4 of 1950 substituted it with the Secretary of Education.
• Believing the director sets the study plan: the faculty draws it up and the Secretary of Education approves it.
• Taking for granted that any teacher may direct the school: since Act 190-2014 at least a master’s in school administration and supervision, educational leadership or educational management and leadership is required.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico

  Educación

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov