In short
Act 26-2009 creates the Student Community Service Project, attached to the Puerto Rico Department of Education, and provides that it be an indispensable graduation requirement of the public education system at the high school level that students carry out forty (40) hours of community work. Among the community service options the law names are maintenance and conditioning of school facilities, for which the Education Department, the Office for the Improvement of Public Schools and the Public Buildings Authority must supply the materials needed to improve the physical plant, painting, beautification and refurbishing; and activities carried out by sports clubs or associations outside the school, whose training hours may be validated as community work, with the Department of Recreation and Sports certifying that those clubs and associations are duly registered and certified. Act 88-2017 amended that article to add that, from school year 2017-2018, students may carry out mentoring and tutoring work and assist teaching and non-teaching staff in tasks related to attending to and providing supplementary services to the special education population in the public school system’s schools. In both cases the Education Secretary is charged with determining the tasks to be performed and taking the measures necessary to avoid possible risks to students’ safety.
What is it?
These are the community hours without which there is no public high school diploma. What almost nobody knows is that the options are broader than usually said: besides painting the school, the law allows validating training hours in sports clubs outside the campus and, since 2017, mentoring and tutoring special education students.
Who can do it?
It applies to students of Puerto Rico’s public education system at the high school level. The law does not extend the requirement to private schools.
Requirements
- Being a student of Puerto Rico’s public education system at the high school level.Verified against the official source
- Carrying out forty (40) hours of community work.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Information pending verification.
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: The requirement, and where it comes from
It sits in Act 26-2009’s graduation requirement article: “It is provided that it be an indispensable graduation requirement of the public education system at the high school level that students carry out forty (40) hours of community work.” The word doing the work is “indispensable.”
Step 2: Option 1: fixing up the school, materials included
The law does not merely permit it: it requires that you be given the means. “It is provided that the Education Department, as well as the Office for the Improvement of Public Schools and/or the Public Buildings Authority, supply students carrying out community service tasks with the materials needed to make improvements to the physical plant, painting, beautification and refurbishing of school facilities.” The Education Secretary determines the tasks, takes measures to avoid risks to students’ safety, and must ensure the Department’s insurance coverage is sufficient.
Step 3: Option 2: sports training hours count
This is the one most people do not know. “It is provided that both the Education Department and the Department of Recreation and Sports supply students with the tools and guidance needed to validate the training hours of young participants in activities at sports clubs and/or associations outside the school, as part of their community work. The Department of Recreation and Sports shall certify that those clubs and associations are duly registered and certified.” The condition is that DRD certification.
Step 4: Option 3: mentoring and tutoring in special education
Act 88-2017 added it, and its text is incorporated into the graduation requirement article: “as part of the various community service options to be carried out by students under this Act, and beginning in school year 2017-2018, they may carry out mentoring and tutoring work and assist teaching and non-teaching staff in tasks related to attending to and providing supplementary services to the special education population in the public school system’s schools.” Here too the Secretary determines the tasks and takes measures to avoid safety risks.
Step 5: Who administers the Project
A Director appointed by the Education Secretary performs the administrative functions, with the powers the Secretary grants. Among their charges the law lists drafting and adopting a regulation with the rules and procedures applicable to participating students, offering guidance and advisory services to the young people, coordinating with other agencies, the private sector and communities, and establishing a dissemination plan.
Step 6: The recognition: medals and certificates
A verifiable and little-known detail. Among the Director’s functions is “selecting ten (10) students per semester to be awarded a medal for extraordinary performance in the community work performed; the remaining participating students shall be recognised by the delivery of a certificate to that effect.”
Where to do it
The Project is attached to the Education Department and administered by a Director appointed by the Secretary; validating sports training hours also goes through the Department of Recreation and Sports, which certifies the clubs and associations. The concrete rules and procedures you must follow are in the Project’s regulation, which the law orders adopted. If your matter is enrolment, school transportation or special education student rights, those have their own guides.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
A defect in the text that must be said, because it touches the requirement itself. The graduation requirement article, as it appears in the compilation of Act 26-2009, says the forty hours are “subject to the provisions of Article 7 of this Act” — that is, the article refers to itself. The same article, quoted inside Act 88-2017, says “subject to the provisions of Article 8 of this Act.” The two OGP compilations do not agree, and one of them cannot be right. We report both readings and pick neither; Article 8 is the Project’s implementation article, which would be the sensible reading, but the compilation of Act 26-2009 does not say so and we do not assert it. There is a second internal tension: the objectives article speaks of recognising young people who complete “forty (40) hours of community service per semester during the fourth academic year of high school,” while the requirement article speaks of forty hours of community work without that semester framing. We quote both and do not reconcile them. What we did not read and therefore do not publish: the Project’s regulation, which is where the rules and procedures applicable to students live, the way hours are counted and certified, and any exemption; Act 149-1999 and Act 85-2018 on education reform. On students already in grade 11 or 12 when the Project took effect in school year 2009-2010, the law says the Regulation shall provide how to adjust the requirement; we do not publish that adjustment because we did not read the regulation. Processing time is left unverified for the same reason.
Common mistakes
- Believing only painting or cleaning the school counts: the law names at least three different routes.
- Not validating sports training hours: they may count if the club is registered and certified by DRD.
- Leaving it to the last semester without confirming how hours are counted in the Project’s regulation.
- Assuming it applies to private school: the law speaks of the public education system.
- Taking an hours adjustment for granted without checking: the law refers that to the regulation, which we do not publish.
- Paying for materials out of pocket: the law requires the agencies to supply them for school improvements.
Frequently asked questions
How many community hours are needed to graduate?
Forty (40) hours of community work, as an indispensable graduation requirement of the public education system at the high school level.
Do my sports team hours count?
They may be validated. The law provides that Education and the Department of Recreation and Sports supply the tools and guidance to validate training hours at sports clubs or associations outside the school, and DRD shall certify they are duly registered and certified.
Can I do them helping in special education?
Yes, from school year 2017-2018. Students may carry out mentoring and tutoring work and assist teaching and non-teaching staff in tasks related to attending to and providing supplementary services to the special education population.
Who supplies the materials if we fix up the school?
The Education Department, the Office for the Improvement of Public Schools and the Public Buildings Authority must supply the materials needed for improvements to the physical plant, painting, beautification and refurbishing of the facilities.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico
Educación
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
- Act 88-2017, amending the graduation requirement
OGP
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
August 24, 2026
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