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Many Puerto Ricans are still without power from the large-scale grid failure after Hurricane Maria last fall. Some are not expected to be reconnected to the grid until April or May.<\/p>\n
Community Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n One of those communities took matters into its own hands and set the local school up with solar panels<\/a>. Plans to set up rainwater collection and filtration are also in the works. This would make the school entirely off-grid, and a perfect community shelter in the event of other natural disasters.<\/p>\n The Daily Bell recently published an article called 7 Reasons to Shut Down Public Schools Immediately and Permanently<\/em><\/a>. Praising an off-grid public school seems like a contradiction.<\/p>\n But Puerto Rico announced<\/a> plans to introduce a school voucher program so that students could take a portion of a school\u2019s funding with them and apply it towards another public or private school. Perhaps a school which is off the grid and teaches kids about solar and rainwater systems will flourish. Competition always helps to improve things.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t come close to solving all the current problems with mainstream schooling<\/a>. But the off the grid school couple with school choice can be seen as a decentralization of government, with the community more in control. And that seems like a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n