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Thread: For months, the education world has wondered, "Will Congress help schools with another aid bill?"
This is the week we could get much closer to answers. (Welcome back, senators.) Here's @educationweek reporting from @EvieBlad and me that might be helpful background. 1/16
This is the week we could get much closer to answers. (Welcome back, senators.) Here's @educationweek reporting from @EvieBlad and me that might be helpful background. 1/16
Here's a checklist from two weeks ago with several key things to watch for in any final virus aid agreement on Capitol Hill when it comes to schools: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/national-virus-bailout-schools-ten-things.html 2/16
A key GOP senator says there should be federal $ for states to give to schools that have "meaningful plans" to hold face-to-face classes.
But for Senate Democrats, any attempt to condition money on reopening school buildings is a nonstarter. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/schools-federal-money-kids-classrooms-senator.html 3/16
But for Senate Democrats, any attempt to condition money on reopening school buildings is a nonstarter. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/schools-federal-money-kids-classrooms-senator.html 3/16
The White House has tried to turn the screws by suggesting that schools that don't reopen buildings perhaps shouldn't get new federal virus relief. It's been a divisive rhetorical move.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/trump-rielief-funding-school-reopening-covid.html 4/16
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/trump-rielief-funding-school-reopening-covid.html 4/16
During the week of July 6, the Trump administration pushed loudly and without much equivocation for schools to reopen.
Donald Trump, in fact, literally tweeted during that week, "SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!"
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/white_house_school_reopen_political_pressure.html 5/16
Donald Trump, in fact, literally tweeted during that week, "SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!"
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/white_house_school_reopen_political_pressure.html 5/16
Trump threatened to withhold funding from schools that don't hold in-person instruction. But that's something he doesn't have any clear authority to do.
Does that sound like a fact-check is coming? Yep. Here it is: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/fact-check-trump-power-school-aid-cut-off-threats.html 6/16
Does that sound like a fact-check is coming? Yep. Here it is: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/fact-check-trump-power-school-aid-cut-off-threats.html 6/16
Meanwhile, Betsy DeVos says if schools don't reopen buildings, they should lose a share of their full federal aid. That aid, she's said, should go to families.
She's echoed Trump's demands but otherwise brought little clarity to the public debate: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/devos_provides_little_clarity.html 7/16
She's echoed Trump's demands but otherwise brought little clarity to the public debate: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/devos_provides_little_clarity.html 7/16
The voucher system DeVos is talking about seems like a long shot.
But for weeks, the Trump administration has also pushed hard for federally backed tax-credit scholarships in any new aid bill. Will they get them? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/trump_administration_signals_s.html 8/16
But for weeks, the Trump administration has also pushed hard for federally backed tax-credit scholarships in any new aid bill. Will they get them? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/trump_administration_signals_s.html 8/16
Meanwhile, days after Trump sought to use the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations to justify his aggressive push to reopen school buildings, the group joined with several education organizations to urge: Don't politicize school repenings. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/pediatricians_dont_politicize_school-reopening-trump.html 9/16
Even the last aid package Congress passed has been beset by bickering and division. It spawned a relatively unusual specimen, even in the torrid education politics of DeVos' time as education secretary: a big multi-state lawsuit over her K-12 policy. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/states-lawsuit-devos-rule-virus-relief-private-school.html 10/16
Meanwhile, what do Congressional Democrats want?
Sen. Patty Murray has pitched $175 billion in direct aid for schools in a new coronavirus aid bill. That's part of a $430 billion package that includes help for child care. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/06/democrats_education_child_care_packages_virus_relief.html 11/16
Sen. Patty Murray has pitched $175 billion in direct aid for schools in a new coronavirus aid bill. That's part of a $430 billion package that includes help for child care. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/06/democrats_education_child_care_packages_virus_relief.html 11/16
But the HEROES Act, the Democrats-only aid bill approved by the House about two months ago contains just $58 billion in direct aid for schools.
So have Dems and other education lobbying groups undercut their case for a larger K-12 relief bill? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/05/heroes-act-education-funding-house-passes.html 12/16
So have Dems and other education lobbying groups undercut their case for a larger K-12 relief bill? http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/05/heroes-act-education-funding-house-passes.html 12/16
And data collected by a federal watchdog indicates that schools haven't spent most of the virus relief they received in a bill Trump signed nearly four months ago.
Why has that money been spent so slowly? See if you think the answers hold water: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/schools-coronavirus-relief-aid-spent-congress.html 13/16
Why has that money been spent so slowly? See if you think the answers hold water: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/schools-coronavirus-relief-aid-spent-congress.html 13/16
Meanwhile, Joe Biden just released his own blueprint for reopening schools safely.
"Forcing educators and students back into the classroom in areas where the infection rate is going up or remaining very high is just plain dangerous," Biden said. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/biden_school_reopening_plan.html 14/16
"Forcing educators and students back into the classroom in areas where the infection rate is going up or remaining very high is just plain dangerous," Biden said. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/biden_school_reopening_plan.html 14/16
But no glossy list of campaign talking points will fix the partisan division that's afflicting some states as they try to navigate whether, and how, to reopen schools safely: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/07/state-tension-school-reopening-covid.html 15/16
Finally, we talked with educators about how frustrated, appalled, and confused they are with the nation's political leadership as they try to prepare for an extraordinary, extraordinarily fraught school year that is already haunting their steps. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/07/16/how-americas-leaders-have-failed-educators-on.html 16/16
