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After weeks of tense negotiations, California legislative leaders on Thursday agreed to a $ 6.5 billion proposal to bring students back to classrooms this spring after months of closures due to the pandemic.
But the plan does not have the blessing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said Thursday it “was not going far enough or fast enough.” If Newsom vetoed it, the legislature would need two-thirds of both chambers to win. This has not happened since 1979.
Legislative leaders did not appear discouraged, with Assembly Budget Speaker Phil Ting saying they “believe this is the right plan to encourage most schools to open.”
Ayla Einhorn, fourth student at Clarendon Alternative Elementary School, works on her computer as students and parents attend distance zooming classes at the Midtown Terrace Playground in San Francisco on Thursday. (AP)
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“Parents like me have been watching their kids on Zoom for a year and the learning loss is absolutely staggering,” Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco, said on a Zoom call with reporters.
The state cannot force California school districts to reopen. But it can offer districts a lot of new money to encourage them to resume teaching in person. In December, Newsom announced a plan that would give $ 2 billion to districts that will reopen by February. This plan was strongly criticized by school officials.
The “safe and open schools plan” that legislative leaders announced on Thursday gives schools more time and more money to reopen than was foreseen in Newsom’s plan.
In a press release, Newsom said his plan “is based on the same science that has been recognized by health professionals at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, by the president’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Fauci, and by the president himself. “
Clarendon Alternative Primary School second-graders Yaichiro Tanaka, left, and Haruki Ishiyama look at a computer screen as students and parents attend distance zooming lessons at the Midtown Terrace Playground in San Francisco, Thursday. (AP)
“I look forward to building on the growing momentum to open our schools and continuing discussions with the Legislature to get our children back to school as quickly and safely as possible,” Newsom said.
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The legislative plan emerged amid a rapid decline in coronavirus cases in California. Health officials in Los Angeles County, the state’s largest with 10 million people, announced earlier this week that cases had fallen there enough for all districts to resume classroom teaching. if they wished.
One such district, Long Beach Unified, the fourth largest in the state with 70,000 students, announced Thursday that it plans to resume in-person classes for elementary classes on March 29. to classrooms in April.
The legislative plan would allocate $ 6.6 billion in public funds to schools, including $ 2 billion for reopening costs this school year and $ 4.6 billion that schools can use until next fall to extend the school year, increase the school day or other expenses to catch up. learning lost after nearly a year of distance learning. Schools will also have access to an additional $ 6 billion in federal funds, the bill says.
To get the money, school districts must offer face-to-face classes by April 15 to “vulnerable” elementary school students, including English learners, homeless students, homeless students. computer and foster children.
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The proposal also requires schools that receive the money to reopen for all K-6 students when case rates in their counties drop below 7 per 100,000 – and for all vulnerable student groups. of the upper classes.
Regardless of funding, the proposal requires all schools to adopt a COVID-19 safety plan by April 1 that has been approved by unions. Schools should continue to offer distance education as an option for students.
Returning students to classrooms has become a pressing political issue for Newsom, which faces a possible recall election later this year. His plan took the same approach by offering schools financial incentives to reopen without making reopening mandatory.
But it has been widely criticized by school principals, unions and lawmakers, who have said it was setting unrealistic deadlines including demands to reopen as early as mid-February. They also said the plan did not include enough money to pay for frequent COVID-19 testing of students and teachers and that it did not address the vaccination of teachers.
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The California Teachers Association launched a television ad campaign this week saying the coronavirus remains a health threat and schools should not reopen until teachers are given priority for vaccinations.
The legislative proposal would require county public health departments to offer vaccinations to school staff who will return to classes in person. It also pushes back the schedule for reopening, which would give school districts time to negotiate with the unions, Ting said. And that gives school districts more freedom as to how to spend the funding, which each district would receive based on its student population.
Some of the main critics of Newsom’s original plan – including Los Angeles Unified, San Diego, San Francisco and other major school districts in the state – issued a joint statement Thursday calling the new proposal a step in the right direction.
“These clear state guidelines will help reopen schools in the safest way possible.” In addition to ensuring appropriate health measures in schools and emphasizing the need to control the community spread of the virus, the proposed action recognizes the essential role of vaccination for all school staff. play to create the safest school environment possible, ”said the statement, signed by the principals of the Los Angeles, Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland, Sacramento and San Diego school districts.
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State Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, said the proposal was based on the governor’s framework.
“We all share the same goal of getting students back to school safely,” she said.
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