California schools may reopen by April under new plan

Aiming to break a stalemate that has kept many California schools closed this year, leading Democrats in the Legislature on Thursday unveiled their own plan to start in-class instruction by mid-April.

Senate Bill 86, known as the “Safe and Open Schools Plan,” follows many of the same reopening tenets laid out by Gov. Gavin Newsom at the start of the year, with some adjustments.

The plan would send the state’s most vulnerable students back to in-person instruction by mid April at the latest, and require county public health departments to make COVID-19 vaccines available to onsite teachers and staff.

The bill allocates nearly $6.6 billion in state funds to schools, $2 billion of which must be used to reopen. Schools will also have access to an additional $6 billion in federal funds.

Lawmakers said they hope to pass the bill as soon as Monday.

Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco and Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, said Thursday in a call with reporters that the April timeframe fit within President Joe Biden’s reopening goals and gave schools enough time to draft plans and come to agreements with labor unions.

“The timeframe... also appeared to fit within when districts could get bargaining done for the COVID health and safety plans, to make sure that discussions were happening with all the different school employees, as well as being able to give them enough time to have the proper PPE, do whatever they needed to do with the various facilities as students, teachers and staff were coming back,” he said.

Newsom had originally set a goal of putting students back in classrooms by this month, but schools and labor unions balked at the short turnaround time.

It’s unclear whether Newsom’s administration supports the new bill. The governor’s office did not return a request for comment.

Earlier this week, while visiting a vaccine distribution site, Newsom described negotiations as “stubborn.”

The proposal laid out by lawmakers on Thursday would require all schools to offer optional in-person instruction to vulnerable groups of students in K-12 by April 15, including youth, homeless students, English learners, those without access to distance learning tools, and those at risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation.

Furthermore, by April 15, schools in counties with fewer than seven new daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents — red tier or better — would be required to offer in-person instruction to all students in grades K-6 under the proposal.

Schools can open before that date, should local health conditions allow, lawmakers said, but if they choose not to open by April, they forfeit their share of state funds. Schools that reopen must continue to allow families to choose distance learning, should they want.

Regardless of funding, all California schools would have to complete COVID-19 school safety plans no later than April 1, with plans to meet state health guidelines. Schools that have already opened or have adopted plans for reopening may proceed with those, but standards around testing, masking and other environmental requirements will be added to their plans.