NEWSOM PROMISES $2B IN FUNDING
Governor’s plan aims to get elementary kids back on campus, earmarks money for tests
S ACR AMENTO
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced a $2 billion package of financial incentives to encourage a return to in-person classroom instruction for California elementary students as early as mid-February, an effort that would fund frequent coronavirus testing for students, teachers and staff.
The proposal won’t immediately open any additional school campuses, given the bleak public health conditions across most of the state, and it remains unclear just how quickly many districts will qualify, especially those in large urban areas in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
San Diego County’s COVID-19 rate is currently too high to qualify. San Diego Unified, the state’s second-largest school district, has kept its schools closed and provided virtual instruction for most students since March.
San Diego Unified Board President Richard Barrera said Wednesday that while he’s pleased that Newsom’s plan includes funding for COVID-19 school testing, the proposal, if passed, would not automatically mean the district can reopen soon.
First of all, San Diego Unified will want to know when teachers will be able to get vaccinated, Barrera said.
Newsom said teachers will be prioritized for vaccinations but, as of Wednesday morning, there was no timeline.
“We think if there’s a possibility over the next six weeks we get all educators who would be on campus vaccinated, that will make a big difference in our ability to open up and stay open,” Barrera said in an interview.
Barrera said he also doesn’t know if the funding will be enough for schools to fund the level of
COVID-19 testing Newsom is recommending, which is as frequent as once a week for all students and staff in areas with high case rates.
Newsom’s plan, expected to be submitted to the Legislature as an adjustment of the state budget for the current fiscal year, prioritizes returning students in kindergarten through second grade to the classroom as well as those with special instructional needs.
Newsom cited growing evidence that young students faced decreased coronavirus risks and benefited more from in-person instruction compared to athome learning.
The remainder of elementary school students could return as early as March. It remained unclear when older students would return to campuses.
All staff and students who return to school would be required to wear masks.
Parents will still have the option to keep their children learning from home even if their schools reopen.
Before Newsom’s announcement Wednesday, the state was not allowing schools to reopen if their county was in the most re
strictive purple tier, which now covers nearly all state residents.
The purple level means that a county has a sevenday average of daily cases higher than 7 per 100,000 residents. Now, schools will be eligible to reopen if their county has a case rate below 28. Districts also don’t need to wait for the county to get out and stay out of the purple tier for two weeks before reopening.
As of Tuesday, San Diego County’s adjusted case rate was 38.1.
San Diego Unified will likely re-evaluate with experts at UC San Diego what it considers to be a safe COVID-19 community case rate to reopen, Barrera said.
Most San Diego County school districts have been open for in-person instruction. Schools that reopened before the county fell to the most restrictive purple tier on Nov. 10 can remain open.
If the county’s COVID-19 numbers improve, Newsom’s incentives could end up accelerating reopening timelines for other districts that remain closed, including San Diego Unified, all South County school districts, La Mesa-Spring Valley, Lemon Grove and San Dieguito Union High.
San Diego Unified had announced in early December that it will release a new
reopening timeline on Jan. 13. Before the current COVID-19 surge, the district had planned to reopen for elementary students on Monday and for middle and high school students on Jan. 25.
In a joint statement Wednesday made by superintendents of seven large California school districts, including San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten, the school leaders said they will analyze Newsom’s proposal and provide feedback to Newsom and legislators.
The superintendents said they will publish a response before the Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 11.
Education advocates may be particularly worried about the details of how the plan is funded. The proposal includes the $2 billion as part of the funding guaranteed to schools under the California Constitution — which means the money for coronavirus testing and other needs would otherwise be spent on a variety of existing school programs.
Under Newsom’s plan, districts that offer in-person instruction would receive about $450 per student, a figure that could increase for those from lowincome families, English learners and foster youth.
In November, superintendents from some of Cali
fornia’s largest school districts — including Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified — sent a letter to Newsom urging him to establish common statewide standards for school reopenings, including testing requirements, social-distancing criteria and employee protections.
The governor’s most notable decision on when to resume in-person learning, unveiled in July, still left the final decision in the hands of individual school districts as virus transmissions decreased in a number of California communities in early fall.
Critics said the result was an ever-widening gap between schools with resources, largely in aff luent communities, and those serving lower-income families and left to full-time remote learning. Those criticisms also noted that a number of private schools were the ones to open first and have been allowed to remain open even as local public health conditions have worsened.
Earlier this month, a group of prominent Democrats in the Legislature demanded a plan that would tightly link the return of inperson learning with reduced local virus transmissions. Leg islation introduced earlier this month would require school dis
tricts to open campuses in California counties that had been removed from the most restrictive purple tier. Current policy makes it optional for schools to reopen in the less restrictive tiers.
The funds for the new effort will be included in Newsom’s budget proposal for the coming year, to be unveiled next week. Legislative analysts and the governor have estimated a windfall of tax revenue — of $15.5 billion or more — resulting from a smaller-than-expected drop in personal income taxes paid by Californians. Some of that revenue will automatically be spent on public schools, but lawmakers could add more cash to that total in support of the governor’s proposal and other efforts.