California school reopening plan gets final nod

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a $6.6 billion plan to urge more school districts across the state to reopen classrooms for their youngest students, though a bipartisan chorus of voices expressed frustration and fear the effort won’t fully meet the unique needs of their communities.

The legislation, which Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to sign on Friday, is the most far-reaching effort by legislators in more than six months to address the educational challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It earmarks $2 billion in education funds for elementary schools that offer in-person learning next month, focusing first on students in transitional kindergarten through second grade and ramping up to include older students based on the number of infections in counties. Schools that open later than April 1 would receive smaller cash grants and those that don’t open by May 15 would lose their entire share of the incentive funding.

“The goal of this is to spur districts on the sidelines to act and also help that those that are already acting,” said Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty.

Almost $4.6 billion in the proposal would be allocated to school districts over the next 18 months for programs designed to mitigate the learning opportunities lost to students since the beginning of the public health crisis. The funds could be used to pay for summer school activities and in-person services such as tutoring.

California’s public and private schools have adopted a patchwork of approaches to teaching students since the academic year began in August. Although state officials provided a few basic guidelines for campus safety precautions and procedures to use in the event educators or students tested positive for the virus, they did not require schools to move from remote to in-person instruction as conditions improved in some communities in the fall. Nor were those schools that opened their classrooms required to close as COVID-19 cases increased during the winter.

Newsom and lawmakers have been sharply criticized for not providing a more comprehensive statewide plan until now and spent most of the past two months seeking a compromise to assuage parents who are eager for on-campus instruction as well as educators who have been leery of returning to classrooms before they are vaccinated.