Lawmakers grill health, education secretaries
It was clear from the onset of a joint hearing of the state Senate and House education committees Wednesday afternoon that the state secretaries of health and education were on the hot seat.
The session, held to discuss the upcoming start of the new school year, began with Sen. Wayne Langerolc Jr., the Republican Senate committee chair, aggressively questioning Dr. Rachel Levine, secretary of health.
He questioned the metrics being used to provide reopening guidance to school districts, which Levine said was the same used by the White House COVID-19 task force.
He said Cambria County, which he represents, has had no COVID-19 deaths of children. He said child abuse is being missed because kids aren’t in school, that there are children who aren’t able to see dentists without schools being open.
Langerolc, making his opinion that schools across the state should reopen in-person very clear, said guidance being provided to school districts as late as last week is causing an “upheaval.”
“When are we going to trust our local school districts and stop issuing recommendations that are essentially mandates that leave them more confused than they were in June?” he asked.
Levine responded by saying that the Department of Health and Department of Education are using data to provide districts with advice that they have requested. She said the guidance is not a mandate, that local districts have the power to make their own decisions about how to handle the new school year.
“I respectfully disagree,” Langerolc said. “And in my opinion, you are losing the confidence of many superintendents in school districts across the commonwealth.”
Which is better?
The rest of the nearly three-hour hearing followed a similar pattern.
Many committee members, in particular Republicans, voiced their support for reopening school in person. Several questioned whether the potential negative impact of virtual learning on students was worse than the risk of COVID-19.
Rep. Curtis Sonney, House committee chairman, asked what she thinks will happen as students and staff return to school buildings. Will there be an uptick in cases? Will schools be forced to close again?
“It is really very hard to predict what the spread of this novel coronavirus will be,” she responded, saying that what’s been seen in other states is outbreaks of COVID-19 when students aren’t following guidelines like wearing masks and social distancing.
When asked by Sonney if children not having in-person instruction is more detrimental to students than COVID-19, Levine said she agrees that in-person instruction is preferable. But the health and safety of students and staff have to come first.
Levine later reminded another committee member that while in-person instruction is best for students, “we are in the midst of the biggest global pandemic since 1918.”
Later in the session, Education Secretary Pedro Rivera answered a similar question, saying he has asked himself the question about the balance between education and safety. His conclusion was simple, saying even if only 5% of students are infected, it’s a number that is too high.
“That might be a number folks might be comfortable with, but I don’t want my daughter, I don’t want my son to be part of that 5%,” he said.
Mandates debate
One of the biggest issues raised in the hearing was the issue of liability.
First Langerolc, then Senate Minorty Chairman Andrew Dinniman, a Chester County Democrat, said the state’s recommendations are effectively mandates because districts that don’t follow them open themselves up to potential lawsuits.
“In the end, is it not true that what you say is a recommendation ends up being a mandate because school districts are afraid of being sued and taxpayers losing millions of dollars?” Dinniman said, asking if the secretaries had recommended legislation to deal with the liability issue.
Rivera said he has had discussions with other members of the Wolf administration about the topic, but has not made a formal recommendation.
“We can’t simply sit there and do nothing,” Dinniman said, adding that the Legislature will likely craft its own measure to address the problem.
Other issues
Other questions from the hearing included issues of equity, with the secretaries asked about what is being done to ensure the needs of all students are being met.
Rivera said his department has been working diligently on that issue, providing grants for technology needs, working with local districts to develop strategies to serve students with special needs, providing free online instruction and lobbying the federal government to let schools provide meals for students learning virtually.
But when it comes down to it, Rivera added, the key is communication between families and their local schools.
Rep. Jason Ortitay, a Republican representing parts of Allegheny and Washington counties, brought up testing, asking how important rapid, on-demand tests are to keeping schools safe.
Levine said being able to test students and staff daily would be great, but it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. The problem, she said, is there simply aren’t enough rapid-test kits available.
If there are new developments, like the introduction of a reliable at-home test, it would make a huge impact.
“When that’s available, and it’s available in bulk, that would be a gamechanger,” Levine said.
“We can’t simply sit there and do nothing.” — state Sen. Andrew Dinniman, a Chester County Democrat