Deal reached to get California children back in classrooms
SACRAMENTO >> The majority of California’s 6.1 million public school students could be back in the classroom by April under new legislation announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders. Critics panned the plan as inadequate.
Most pupils have been distance learning for the past year. But with coronavirus cases falling rapidly throughout the state, there has been increasing pressure to break a legislative logjam that has held up a statewide plan for in-person instruction.
If approved by the Legislature, the state would not order districts to return students to the classroom and no parents would be compelled to stop distance learning if they prefer it. Rather, the state would set aside $2 billion that would be paid to districts that get select groups of students into classrooms by the end of the month.
Crucially, the legislation does not require districts to reach an agreement with teachers’ unions on a plan for in-person instruction, a barrier districts including the state’s largest — Los Angeles — have not been able to overcome.
It also does not require all teachers be vaccinated, as teacher unions had urged and that could take months given the nation’s limited supply of vaccine. The legislation would make it state law that 10% of the state’s vaccine supply be set aside specifically for teachers and school staff.
“You can’t reopen your economy unless you get your schools reopened for in-person instruction,” said Newsom, who announced the deal at an elementary school in the Elk Grove Unified School District just south of Sacramento. It was one of the first districts in the country to halt in-person
learning because of the coronavirus.
The California Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, said the agreement gets teachers “one step closer to rejoining our students.”
In addition to the $2 billion, the legislation would give all school districts access to $4.6 billion to help students who have struggled with distance learning. Districts could use this money to add another month to the school year or they could spend it on counseling and tutoring for students who need the most help.
The announcement comes at a critical time for Newsom, who could face a recall election later this year fueled by anger over his response to the pandemic. Kevin Faulconer, the former Republican mayor of San Diego who already has announced his candidacy, said the plan Newsom announced “isn’t even close to good enough for our kids and teachers.”
“For months, Newsom has ignored science and left public schools across our state shuttered while
private schools are open,” Faulconer said. “For him to tout this as an accomplishment after months of inexcusable failures shows how out of touch he is. and why he should be recalled.”
Nearly 96% of California’s population resides in counties in the purple tier, the most restrictive of four levels stipulating which businesses can reopen and how they can operate. However, with cases falling quickly it’s expected most will be in lower tiers by the end of the month.
To get their slice of the $2 billion, districts in purple tier counties must offer in-person learning for transitional kindergarten through second grade, plus certain vulnerable students in all grades. This includes students who are disabled, homeless, in foster care, learning English, don’t have access to technology or are at risk of abuse and neglect.
Counties in the next group, known as the red tier, must offer in-person instruction for all elementary school grades, plus at least one grade each in middle and high schools.