List of Secretaries of Education of Puerto Rico

There have been three types of Secretaries of Education in Puerto Rico. The first were the Education Commissioners established in 1899 after Puerto Rico was succeeded to the United States from Spain. The second were the Secretaries of Public Instruction after the Department of Public Instruction was formally established by law. Today Puerto Rico has Secretaries of Education after the Department of Public Instruction was reorganized and renamed as the Department of Education.^[1] The following is a list of all the aforementioned executives.

Education Commissioners

#	Portrait	Name	Date it took office	Date it left office	Political party	Appointed by
1		Martin G. Brumbaugh	1900	1902	Republican	William McKinley
2		Samuel McCune Lindsay	1902	1904	Republican	William McKinley
3		Ronald R. Falkner	1904	1907	Republican	William McKinley
4		Edwin G. Dexter	1907	1912	Republican	William McKinley
5		Edward M. Bainter	1912	1915	Republican	William McKinley
6		Paul G. Miller	1915	1921	Republican	William McKinley
7		Juan B. Huyke	1921	1929	Republican	William McKinley
8		José Padín	1930	1936	Republican	William McKinley
9		H. A. Martin	1937	1937	Republican	William McKinley
10		José M. Gallardo	1937	1945	Republican	William McKinley
11		Mariano Villaronga Toro	1946	1947	Republican	William McKinley
12		Francisco Collazo	1947	1948	Republican	William McKinley

Secretaries of Public Instruction

      PPD        PNP

#	Portrait	Name	Date it took office	Date it left office	Political party	Appointed by	Affiliation
1		Mariano Villaronga Toro	1949	1957	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
2		Efraín Sánchez Hidalgo	1957	1960	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
3		Cándido Oliveras	1960	1964	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
4		Ángel Quintero Alfaro	1965	1968	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
5		Ramón Mellado Parsons	1969	1971	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
6		Tania Viera	1972	1972	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
7		Celeste Benítez	1973	1973	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
8		Ramón A. Cruz Aponte	1973	1976	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
9		Herman Sulsona	1977	1977	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
10		Carlos A. Chardón	1977	1980	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
11		María Socorro Lacott	1980	1984	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
12		Awilda Aponte Roque	1985	1988	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat
13		Rafael Cartagena	1989	1989	PPD	William McKinley	Democrat

Secretaries of Education

       PDP
   
       NPP

#	Name	Date it took office	Date it left office	Political party in Puerto Rico
1	José Lema Moya	1989	1991	PDP
2	Celeste Benítez Rivera	1991	1992	PDP
3	Annabelle Padilla Rodríguez	1993	1993	PDP
4	José Arsenio Torres	1993	1994	PDP
5	Víctor Fajardo	1994	2000	NPP
6	César Rey Hernández	2001	2004	PDP
7	Rafael Aragunde Torres	2005	2008	PDP
8	Carlos A. Chardón	2009	2009	NPP
9	Odette Piñeiro Caballero	2009	2010	NPP
10	Jesús Rivera Sánchez	2010	2011	NPP
11	Edward Moreno	2011	2012	NPP
12	Rafael Román Meléndez	2013	present	PDP

References