Los Angeles school board may sue California over plan to reopen Newsom

SACRAMENTO – The Los Angeles Unified School Board voted on Tuesday to allow the district to sue California over Governor Gavin Newsom’s new school reopening plan, escalating tensions between the nation’s second-largest school district and the governor.

Following a closed-door session on Tuesday, the school board announced that it had unanimously “authorized the opening of lawsuits against the State of California, state entities and public officials linked to the California Safe Schools framework for All ”.

The Democratic governor has come under intense pressure to reopen schools in California, as most of the state’s 6 million public school students have walked out of classrooms since the pandemic forced closures nearly a year. But school districts and unions have enormous power over local decisions, and Newsom has said he won’t force them to open. It is instead offering $ 2 billion to pay for additional staff, tests and other expenses to encourage districts to reopen younger classes as of Feb.16.

California lawmakers appeared skeptical on Monday during their first budget hearing that school districts could – or should – act as quickly as Newsom demanded. The non-partisan legislative analyst’s office also said in its review of Newsom’s budget that the governor’s schedule was “likely unachievable”. But Newsom’s finance ministry responded at the hearing that a quick schedule is needed to save a significant portion of the remaining school year.

The district has yet to file a lawsuit, and an LAUSD spokesperson later attempted to downplay the vote on Tuesday by saying the district would pursue legal action “if necessary”. Documents related to the litigation will be available if the district continues the trial, according to council officials. The council also authorized litigation on Tuesday to recover funds the district spent to provide meals to the community during school closures linked to a pandemic.

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner criticized Newsom’s $ 2 billion plan to reopen elementary schools in the state next month. On Monday, Beutner, who oversees California’s largest district, joined unions in demanding state standards and more funding for all schools, whether or not they reopen classrooms.

Under Newsom’s plan, only schools wishing to reopen classrooms are eligible for this additional funding. Superintendents from California’s largest districts have joined with Beutner in saying they will not seek this funding and will move forward with their own plans once the record rate of Covid-19 cases drops.

Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, San Bernardino City Unified and Sacramento City Unified told POLITICO on Tuesday that they were not ready to commit to funding or that they could not qualify due to the high rates of coronavirus.

The LAUSD trial announcement on Tuesday throws more water on Newsom’s plan, which has been touted as a way to encourage schools to open without forcing them to do so. While other states have re-admitted students to some extent, most schools in California have remained closed for 10 months.

Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The debate over reopening schools over the past two months has been unfolding against the backdrop of a record rise in the number of Covid-19 cases across much of California, and the governor’s plan would not allow schools to open without waivers until case rates drop dramatically from what they used to be.

But trends can improve. The state on Tuesday withdrew the Sacramento area from stay-at-home orders after projecting that hospitalizations in intensive care units were declining at a sufficient rate.