Pushing forward with its plan to reopen schools this spring, the Biden administration is expanding coronavirus testing for teachers, staff members and students, and convening a meeting for educators to discuss "best practices" for returning kids to the classroom.
"The time is now, and schools must act immediately to get students safely back into school buildings," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Wednesday.
President Joe Biden, who was inaugurated Jan. 20, has pledged to have most elementary and middle schools open to instruction by the end of his first 100 days in office. The administration has been promoting the $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill recently passed by Congress as a way to accomplish that. As part of that effort, first lady Jill Biden visited a school in New Hampshire on Wednesday.
The states will share $122 billion for K-12 schools, with allocations ranging from $285 million for Vermont schools to $15 billion for California, according to the Education Department.
The money can be used to reduce class sizes and modify classrooms to enhance social distancing, install ventilation systems and buy personal protective equipment. It also can pay for more nurses, counselors and janitors, and summer school.
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Also Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced $10 billion for states to support school covid-19 testing programs.
Most public schools haven't been able to afford the robust testing seen as critical to reopening safely, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
"With this investment, help truly is on the way to aid school systems in implementing a testing system that will help keep students, educators and staff safe inside school buildings," she said in a statement.
Cardona said a meeting scheduled for next week will give education leaders, teachers and students an opportunity to share their experiences in reopening schools. The Education Department said Jill Biden will deliver opening remarks. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also will speak.
"We are holding this summit with the goal of sharing best practices and connecting leaders, educators and students from across this country who are navigating this challenge together and finding creative solutions to support our students and bring them back to in-person learning," Cardona said.
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Jill Biden promoted the relief bill and highlighted reopening strategies during a visit to the Christa McAuliffe School in Concord, N.H., attended by one of the Biden grandchildren. The first lady watched a student perform a series of exercises meant to improve emotional well-being, and she chatted with students about distance learning.
"I think it's really hard to learn on Zoom. Don't you? I think it's really hard," she said.
On a call with reporters, Cardona said he expects schools to fully open in the fall if vaccinations continue as expected, and with guidance from health authorities.
"What does normal look like? I wish I had a crystal ball. We don't know," he said. "What we do know is that this spring we're wanting to see schools reopen using the mitigation strategies and giving students an opportunity for that in-person learning."
MONEY FOR SCHOOLS
School leaders see the flow of new money as a major factor, along with vaccines for teachers, in getting schools open and keeping them open, said Dan Domenech, executive director of a school administrators' group.
The Education Department will begin making the money available this month.
"There are a lot of districts that were desperately hoping that this would happen to prevent them from going into bankruptcy at the end of the year, which school districts are not allowed to do. They have had to borrow in order to supplement their budgets with dollars that they did not have," Domenech said.
Schools need money to fill holes blown in their budgets by unanticipated expenses such as the laptops and internet hot spots purchased for remote students, and ventilation systems, personal protective equipment, and cleaning and distancing protocols for students who have returned to classrooms.
Next come the expenses to get students back on track academically. That could mean paying teachers and other staff members to keep school going through the summer or continuing remote learning to supplement school days.
Cardona, appearing at a White House news briefing, said the department would get reports from states on how they are using the money.
"It's critically important that we use the funds to support our students, especially those students who have had gaps exacerbated as a result of this pandemic. We know achievement and opportunity gaps have widened," he said.
Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest district, has conservatively estimated a $300 million hit in the budget being written now.
The roughly $1.8 billion anticipated from the federal aid package will cover that and allow for new investments in lost learning and students' emotional needs, the district said last week.
Biden has ordered states to prioritize teachers in their vaccination plans, and the CDC has released guidelines to help schools reopen. But one of those guidelines -- that students be seated 6 feet apart -- is already being reevaluated because of the challenges of achieving that.
At the White House, Cardona said the department would continue to be guided by health experts, while acknowledging that reducing the distance "will provide more opportunities potentially for students to enter our schools."
During a congressional hearing Wednesday, Walensky said the agency is reviewing studies on physical distancing in schools and will update its guidance when it has "concise and consistent evidence."
Walensky said studies looking at distancing of 3 feet in schools got underway after it became clear that distancing of 6 feet would be difficult. "Whenever there are challenges, that's when science emerges," she said.
TRUMP TOUTS SHOTS
Separately, former President Donald Trump again urged people to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, saying he would recommend vaccination to "a lot of people that don't want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me."
In an interview Tuesday night on Fox News, Trump acknowledged that people were free to decide for themselves whether they would be vaccinated against covid-19.
"We have our freedoms and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also. But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine, and it is something that works," he said.
Trump has promoted vaccination before. When he appeared Feb. 28 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, he said, "Everybody, go get your shot."
Meanwhile, federal health researchers reported Wednesday that even though the pandemic has taken a disproportionate toll on members of minority groups and on low-income communities, Americans in wealthier counties have been getting vaccinated against the coronavirus at higher rates than those who live in more distressed, impoverished counties.
The study, by the CDC, examined data on some 50 million residents in 49 states and the District of Columbia who had received at least one covid-19 vaccine by March 1. The U.S. vaccination campaign began in mid-December. The authors analyzed vaccination coverage by county according to the CDC's social vulnerability index, a comprehensive measure that takes into account income, household composition, disability, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and facility with English, as well as the quality of housing and car ownership.
Overall, vaccination coverage was higher, at 15.8%, in counties that were better off than in counties that scored highest on social vulnerability, where vaccination coverage was 13.9%.
There was variability among counties, and some states were exceptions: Arizona and Montana, for example, had higher vaccination coverage in more distressed counties than in less vulnerable counties. Three other states -- Alaska, Minnesota and West Virginia -- also had higher vaccination coverage in disadvantaged counties than in better-off counties, according to select measures in the index.
The study's authors called on communities to track vaccination rates and to take steps to ensure equity for those most affected by covid-19. Federal researchers called on communities to investigate the causes of vaccination disparities and to figure out the role played by access problems, including a lack of vaccine supply or such challenges as vaccine hesitancy.
According to a New York Times analysis of state-reported race and ethnicity information, the vaccination rate for Black people in the United States is half that of white people, and the gap for Hispanic people is even larger. Public health experts have said obstacles to vaccine access deserve much of the blame for vaccination disparities.
Black and Hispanic people in the United States are less likely than their white counterparts to have internet access reliable enough to make online appointments; to have work schedules flexible enough to take any available opening; and to have access to dependable transportation to vaccine sites, among other factors. A lack of access to information about the vaccine through trusted providers can also lead to uncertainty and an unwillingness to get shots.
States that have been successful at getting vaccines to vulnerable communities made it a priority to inoculate people of color during the early stages of the rollout, the authors noted. These states actively monitored and addressed barriers to vaccination in vulnerable communities, directed vaccine to distressed communities, offered free transportation to vaccination sites and collaborated with community partners such as the Indian Health Service.
Information for this article was contributed by Carolyn Thompson and Candice Choi of The Associated Press; and by Roni Caryn Rabin of The New York Times.
