It is increasingly unlikely that the California state legislature will approve Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to reopen state schools for face-to-face learning soon.
Under the proposal, school districts will receive additional funding if they agree to a firm timetable for schools to reopen from mid-February. The proposal was presented to the state legislature as an adjustment to the state budget and offers additional funding for schools, up to $ 450 to $ 750 per student, if they commit to reopening.
However, at committee hearings last week, state lawmakers shuddered with the February 1 deadline for school districts to apply.
“Why is the government holding on these days, when all I’m hearing is the districts they won’t sign up for?” said Senate Education Committee chairwoman Senator Connie Leyva, D-Chino, according to EdSource.
Districts across the state have said they will not apply to be part of the program, with some citing concerns about testing costs, while others say that teachers’ unions are refusing to return without robust vaccination plans.
“Maybe the governor’s office can come back and tell me I’m wrong, but it doesn’t look like the pieces are together yet and that’s worrying for me,” said Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, during the hearings.
With the legislature looking paralyzed and teachers’ unions doubling their vaccination positions, Newsom expressed frustration. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week says that face-to-face education can be safe, as long as safety protocols such as masks and detachment are implemented.
“If everyone has to be vaccinated, we can simply tell people the truth: there will be no face-to-face classes in the state of California,” Newsom said during a virtual conversation with the California School Administrators Association that originally informed Politico on YouTube, but later removed for unknown reasons. “Just tell them the truth. Don’t deceive people. If vaccination is absolute, then maybe we should have a different conversation with the people of the state of California and the parents.”
He added: “You find what you are looking for. If we want to find reasons for not opening, we will find many reasons. “
Parents across the state have formed a new activist group called “California Open Schools” that hopes to pressure Newsom to fight more for personal learning. Organizers told KQED that Newsom lacks the political will to reopen schools.
“We are seeing governors across the country beginning to take decisive steps to reopen their schools,” said Megan Bacigalupi, an organizer who has two children at Oakland Crocker Highlands Elementary School. “And the pressure to do that came in part from the parents who advocated that.”