OPINION: DeSantis should focus on a plan to reopen schools.

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants an investigation of Florida’s neardysfunctional unemployment system. That would be a waste of time and a diversion from higher priorities.

Any probe will trace the problems to former Gov. Rick Scott and fellow Republicans in the Legislature, who wanted a nearinaccessible system. DeSantis should instead focus on developing a plan to reopen schools in August. If the schools stay closed, so will much of Florida’s economy.

Students have been home since midMarch and won’t return to campus this year. Through “distance learning” their classrooms are their homes, with mixed results.

Broward County schools reported that attendance was 88 percent in mid-April compared with an average of 94 percent last school year, the Sun Sentinel reported. Online attendance in Palm Beach County started promisingly, at 86.4 percent. Since then, however, the rate has dropped to 75.3 percent.

Miami-Dade County Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told school board members last week that remote attendance is at 93 percent. That level, Carvalho said, compares favorably with normal days.

Results also vary from school to school. Some parents praise teachers and believe that their children are keeping up. Others complain about poor technology and weak lesson plans.

Everyone agrees, however, that low-income children are most at risk. Their homes are less likely to have Internet access.

Their parents are less likely to work from home. Schools with many low-income students have lower distance learning attendance rates.

Even committed parents aren’t equipped to be surrogate teachers. “I don’t have eight hours a day,” a Seminole County mother of three told the Orlando Sentinel, “on top of everything else that is going on.”

Unemployed parents must be able to return when businesses call them back. If schools aren’t open, however, what will they do?

DeSantis faces a deadline. The academic year begins in mid-August, but schools are in the last phase of the governor’s task force recommendations for reopening.

As with stay-at-home orders, local officials are moving faster than the governor. Miami-Dade’s Carvalho outlined just some of the many adaptations that may be necessary to reopen safely before a virus vaccine is available.

To maintain social distancing, districts might shift students from schools at capacity to less-crowded campuses. Students might attend at staggered times. Some classes might take place outdoors. Teachers might have to group students who start the year far behind.

Any reopening plan must inspire confidence in parents and teachers. Fortunately, the American Federation of Teachers has issued guidelines and suggestions for reopening not just K-12 schools but also colleges.

That will take money. Yet Broward County Superintendent Robert Runcie recently said that his budget might drop by 25 percent. Sales tax revenue makes up 80 percent of Florida’s general fund budget, which finances education. Sales tax collections statewide fell 25 percent in March. That drop was much worse in April.

Florida will get $770 million for schools in the federal COVID-19 stimulus. School districts could get another $173 million from a state emergency fund.

They will need that extra money before the state budget year begins on July 1. More students than usual will need extra help in the summer.

To reopen in August, schools also will need money for protective equipment. Enrollments could swell.

Established private schools could lose students because of the economic damage. Small private schools that depend on vouchers could close because corporate tax contributions toward those vouchers could crater.

Legislative leaders have not scheduled a special session to approve an amended budget. At this point, they and DeSantis seem to believe that the state’s $4 billion reserve fund will be sufficient.

Reopening schools, however, will take a coordinated statewide effort. It can’t resemble the state-by-state chaos that President Trump has encouraged, this week praising governors who are reopening before their states have met the administration’s metrics.

It also will depend on state leaders listening to those who know education. For education commissioner, DeSantis chose former House Speaker Richard Corcoran, who tried to undercut public education. He said remote classes would “maximize student learning.”

No one believes that. Students need to be back with their teachers as soon as safely possible. That will require testing, contract tracing and all the other containment measures that public health experts recommend.

The American Federation of Teachers report nailed it: “Reopening society and the economy hinges on successfully reopening schools.” DeSantis has three-plus months to pull it off.