Family members and NAACP President Derrick Johnson spoke of the violent threats endured for years following the decision, which outlawed separating children into schools by their race. 

President Joe Biden met with the delegation of two original plaintiffs, about 20 descendants and NAACP leadership “critical in fighting for these and other hard-won freedoms for Black Americans,” according to a White House official. 

Several family members reiterated the struggle to make good on ”ț°ùŽÇ·ÉČÔ’s promise of quality education for all is far from over. 

“We have a lot of work to do,” said Cheryl Brown Henderson, youngest daughter of namesake plaintiff Oliver Brown, just after leaving the Oval Office. “… We’re still fighting the battle over whose children we invest in.”

In the private meeting, family members said they urged the President to continue that fight and support HBCUs. President Biden thanked them for taking on the risks required to push back on Jim Crow and segregation, including risking “your life, your livelihood, your home,” said Brown Henderson.

At least one litigating family’s home was burned to the ground in South Carolina. Many others lost jobs, compounding the challenges Black families faced in trying to build economic wealth less than a century after the fall of slavery. 

One descendant urged the President to consider a national holiday commemorating the landmark court decision so that its significance and history would not be lost.

“We have yet to fulfill the promise of Brown,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, adding that teaching “adequate” history is being threatened in multiple states. Last month, the organization for its “anti-indoctrination” law and alleged discrimination against Advanced Placement African American Studies courses.

“So the fight continues,” Johnson said. “It is a political fight. It is a legal fight. It is a moral fight, to ensure that we have a future that’s reflective of the demographics of this country today and not the demographics of 1950.” 

Earlier this week, scholars at Stanford University and University of Southern California unveiled troubling research that school segregation steadily increased in the last three decades. Experts say there’s an urgent need to reform how students are sorted into schools – four states require, and nearly all allow, districts to enforce attendance zones, which often mirror racist housing or sundown town boundaries from nearly a century ago. 

Family members called out the press’s failure to accurately document challenges to ”ț°ùŽÇ·ÉČÔ’s implementation and racial educational inequities being played out in schools today. They also voiced criticism for the administration’s military and war spending in comparison to education priorities. This week and late last month signed a for aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and other countries. 

“The truth about education in America? Are the kids from the Indian reservations 
 in West Virginia, or my mother’s hometown in South Carolina [getting quality education]? I say no. Tell me I’m wrong,” said Nathaniel Briggs, son of the namesake plaintiff in . “We’ll spend millions of dollars to buy an airplane and a bomb, but not on education.” 

Thursday’s event was the first of several NAACP and White House engagements commemorating the anniversary. Tomorrow, seven decades to the day since the court issued the Brown decision, the President will share remarks at the African American Smithsonian. 

“These three strategies have one central goal — giving students more time and more support to succeed,” U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Wednesday at a White House gathering to outline the president’s K-12 agenda. “We’ll use all the tools at our disposal to advance these three pillars.”

The event, featuring three governors and three state chiefs, highlighted successful efforts to spend pandemic relief funds on proven models, like to improve student attendance and the that now reaches 245 of the state’s 600 districts. The administration aims to make sure more states and districts are implementing effective programs.

But some feel there was scant attention to the role of families in such efforts. 

“Amidst all the happy talk, there was no mention that far too many families seem unconvinced that they need to send students to school regularly, or to engage in additional learning opportunities,” said Nat Malkus, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. The “supply side” of the equation — offering extra opportunities for learning — won’t make any difference if parents don’t see the value, he said.

Since the pandemic, researchers have documented a disconnect between parents and educators over pandemic learning loss. A University of Southern California study released in December documented what some have called an “urgency gap,” with parents expressing little alarm over long-term effects of school closures. 

Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, said there are other reasons why students aren’t in class everyday or aren’t taking advantage of tutoring opportunities. Schools, she said, aren’t giving students enough reasons to be there.

“Kids are watching movies and listening to people read books on YouTube in the classroom,” she said. And studies conducted in the wake of the pandemic show schools are requiring less effort from students. “Grade inflation will get you a C without even showing up.” 

An analysis of federal data from Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University shows that roughly 14 million students were chronically absent during the 2021-22 school year, with significant increases among Latino students and those in suburban and rural districts. 

The administration hopes to reverse those trends by encouraging more states to regularly track chronic absenteeism and plans to publish examples from districts using strategies such as text messages and home visits. The White House urged more states to include chronic absenteeism as an indicator in their state accountability plans. Currently, 14 states don’t, according to the department.

Officials also outlined ways to use the department’s existing accountability structure under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act to push research-based tutoring programs. A growing points to models that connect students with the same tutor at least three times a week.

The department plans to monitor whether states with tutoring programs ensure that low-performing schools use high-dosage models. And the White House said states should to districts where test scores still trail pre-COVID performance.

“My guess is they have seen states sign contracts for large-scale online homework help, which isn’t evidence-driven,” said Kevin Huffman, CEO of Accelerate, which last year awarded $1 million each to five states to support high-dosage tutoring.

To Phillip Lovell, associate executive director at All4Ed, a nonprofit advocacy group, ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s agenda signals a shift from using federal relief funds effectively to ensuring successful programs continue to reach students in the lowest-performing schools. While the department is offering states the for an extension, the pandemic aid officially expires later this year. 

“The reality is that it is going to take much longer than the amount of time states and districts have to spend [relief] dollars to recover academically,” Lovell said. 

The it plans to run grant competitions supporting a long list of programs — not just tutoring, but also afterschool programs, and math and literacy coaching for teachers. But funding those programs is still up to Congress, which has not yet reached agreement on the budget for this fiscal year. 

Beyond monitoring districts’ use of Title I funds and promoting best practices, the administration was unclear about what other “tools” it might use to get districts to implement evidence-based programs. But some state leaders wish the department could do more to hold districts accountable. 

“I could use some help getting schools to really understand the value,” said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishamsaid, joining the event remotely. She said “far too many” districts in her state weren’t offering extended learning programs or high-dosage tutoring. “It has been harder than it ought to be to get everybody on the same page dedicated to improved outcomes and well-being for New Mexico students.”

If Speaker Kevin McCarthy agrees to their demands, that would wipe out most of the administration’s budget request for education, including a $2.2 billion increase for schools serving poor students and almost half a billion dollars to address student mental health needs.

With the slogan, “shrink Washington and grow America,” leaders of the said Friday they want to avoid hitting the — the limit on how much the federal government can borrow to pay its bills. They also propose to rescind COVID relief funds not yet scheduled to be spent. ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s budget, meanwhile, includes $90 billion for education, a 13.6% increase over fiscal year 2023.

“We are clearly a long way away from the finish line and middle ground,” said Lindsay Fryer, president of Lodestone D.C., a Washington lobbying and consulting firm. “Talks of addressing the debt limit and overall budget levels are sure to add interesting dynamics to appropriations conversations that could prolong this [budget] process for quite a while.”

Even with Democrats controlling Congress during the first two years of his presidency, Biden wasn’t able to deliver on some of his major education proposals and negotiations stretched until December. But now he has to contend with a Republican majority that wants to scale back government spending — the question is how much. Republicans have just a five-vote advantage in the House, meaning that McCarthy — who didn’t become speaker until he bowed to concessions from the Freedom Caucus — will need their support to pass a budget through the chamber.

The administration, on the other hand, wants to raise the $31.4 trillion debt limit to avoid what most economists say would be a . In his budget last week, he pledged to reduce the national debt by $3 trillion with taxes on those earning over $400,000 million a year.

Despite the likely standoff later this year, advocates for schools and early learning programs were still generally pleased with ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s proposals.

“I’m celebrating,” Julie Kashen, director and senior fellow at The Century Foundation, said about the proposal for the to spend $600 billion over 10 years for child care and preschool. She called it “a significant commitment to meeting the needs of children, families and communities.”

The Department of Education’s budget also includes a new $500 million program to help school districts expand universal preschool for students eligible to attend Title I schools. 

Aaron Loewenberg, a senior policy analyst at New America, a left-leaning think tank, said he was encouraged by the proposal. But he’s also realistic about its prospects.

“With a prolonged fight over the debt ceiling looming and House Republicans demanding billions of dollars in funding cuts,” he said, “the administration’s new pre-K proposal will have a hard time passing Congress.” 

Biden wants to restore the expanded that was part of the American Rescue Plan — $3,000 for those 6 and older and $3,600 for younger children. U.S. Census data shows the monthly payments nearly in half in 2021, and that it helped them afford rent, groceries and school supplies.

Proposals for other major programs include: 

• $20.5 billion for Title I, a $2.2 billion increase over 2023
• $18.2 billion for special education, including grants for preschoolers, infants and toddlers
• $428 million to increase the number of counselors, school psychologists and social workers
• $368 million for community schools — more than double the $150 million in the 2023 budget
• $1.2 billion for English learners, including $90 million to increase teacher diversity by recruiting and training more multilingual educators 
• $178 million for the Office for Civil Rights, which last year saw a record number of

But the administration proposes to keep funding for grants to support new and expanding charter schools at $440 million — the same level since 2019.

That “amounts to a cut” when factoring in inflation, said John Bailey, an adviser to the Walton Family Foundation. 

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools wants to see funding bumped to $500 million. Enrollment in charters climbed 7% during the pandemic — “evidence that parents were looking for something more and better for their children during a time of crisis,” Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said in  

The president’s budget was also a “real disappointment” to afterschool providers, Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, said in a statement. The budget keeps funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program at $1.3 billion, the same as last year. 

While the budget McCarthy ultimately proposes might not include cuts that are as deep as those proposed by the hardline Freedom Caucus, it’s unlikely to include a lot of increases for education either. 

As negotiations move forward, Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for advocacy and governance at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said she’d like to see Democrats prioritize the increase for special education. 

Others want to see the expanded child tax credit make it into the final budget.

“It prevented a lot of children and families from falling below the poverty line,” said Cary Lou, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute. 

But with McCarthy already saying cuts to are “off the table,” that means everything else, including funding for schools and children, is vulnerable, he said. McCarthy has signaled that he might not have ready for at least another month, adding to uncertainty over appropriations for next year, Lou said. “Multiple unknowns make it a bit more of a high-wire act.”

For schools, the longest period in history with a 50-50 U.S. Senate will likely be remembered for one thing — Democrats’ passage of a massive COVID-relief bill that provided $122 billion in federal funds for K-12.

On March 4, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris cast a key tie-breaking vote from the Senate dais that allowed the $1.9 trillion pandemic recovery passage to move forward.

“Nobody can use scarcity as an excuse,” said Charles Barone, vice president of K-12 policy with Democrats for Education Reform, a think tank, and a former Democratic staffer in the Senate. “There won’t be any other packages like that for at least another decade.”

With new senators expected to be sworn in Tuesday, the Senate reaches the end of an era. Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock’s in Georgia concluded only the fourth time in history that the Senate was evenly split between the two parties. And even though Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has officially to become an independent, the way she votes isn’t expected to change much. That shifts the balance to 51-49 for the Democrats. By many accounts, the Senate make-up has worked in . He scored wins with the American Rescue Plan and a key known as the Inflation Reduction Act. He’s also seated than any president since John Kennedy. 

But for those who latched onto ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s broad education agenda, the past two years have been bittersweet. Despite delivering an unprecedented windfall for pandemic recovery, Democrats had to sacrifice other education proposals, like two years of preschool and funds to rebuild aging school buildings.

At first, having Democrats in control of Congress and the White House “gave people enough hope that they aimed high and tried to shoot the moon,” Barone said.  

But it wasn’t long before Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a fiscally conservative Democrat, put up roadblocks that forced Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and the rest of the party to scale back their ambitions. 

With a 50-50 Senate, there’s “no room for error,” said Bethany Little, principal at EducationCounsel, a consulting firm.  

“The slightest change in the wind can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” she said. There was momentum for the party after ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s election, but once that sense of urgency waned, “you couldn’t get some really big agenda items that Democrats have wanted for a long time.”

Those included major increases in funding for child care and pre-K, two years of free community college and the extension of a higher child tax credit that data shows by almost 30%. Little called those proposals “generational shifts that were all on the table at once.”

After nearly a year of negotiations with Manchin and multiple rewrites, ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s so-called Build Back Better plan emerged as the Inflation Reduction Act, a shadow of the original package. It passed 51-50 on Aug. 7, with Harris breaking another tie.

The vice president was also called on to tip the balance in favor of Catherine Lhamon to lead the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Republicans opposed her confirmation because of positions on issues such as school discipline and transgender students’ rights they see as examples of government overreach.

‘The holy grail’

Advocates for federal spending on school construction were especially disappointed when dedicated funding to repair and rebuild schools was dropped from spending bills in an effort to win Manchin’s blessing.

“This country would absolutely have gotten help for its aged school buildings if we had had a Congress able to deliver good policy,” said Mary Filardo,  executive director of the 21^st Century School Fund, which focuses on modernizing the nation’s schools.

”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s original included $100 billion for school construction and repairs. When Democrats cut that provision, Filardo and education groups hoped it would resurface in Build Back Better. That didn’t happen. 

“School Infrastructure is like the holy grail,” Barone said. “It always seems within grasp, and then it isn’t.” 

The loss of a dedicated funding bill means many districts are now using American Rescue Plan funds for major facility upgrades.

Ironically, the Education Department frowns on those decisions, issuing last month that “strongly discourages” districts from using the money that way.

‘The future of public policy making’

Even though Manchin helped rein in progressives on a few of their big-ticket priorities, that didn’t stop the GOP from portraying Democrats as a party on a spending spree.

“What the Democrats have done is extraordinarily harmful to the future of public policy making,” said David Cleary, Republican staff director for the Senate education committee.

Both the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act were the result of budget reconciliation, a process that allows the party in charge to pass legislation without any votes from across the aisle. Those multi-billion-dollar packages “ruined the opportunity to come together,” Cleary said.

The Biden administration, he said, has taken the same approach in pursuing policies and actions bound to annoy Republicans.

The Education Department’s effort to undo what Cleary called former Secretary Betsy DeVos’s “chef’s kiss perfect” Title IX regulation is one example. ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s proposed rule would extend protections against sexual discrimination and harassment to transgender students and, Cleary argues, roll back due process rights for those accused of sexual misconduct.

He also called ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt per borrower “an abomination” that further divides Republicans and Democrats and sends the message that “no one ever has to pay for education.” The U.S. Supreme Court the fate of the plan next month.

Even though Democrats still control the Senate, the Republican majority in the House will change the dynamic when both chambers get to work this winter. 

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, for example, could find himself facing increased scrutiny from the House education committee over issues such as districts’ spending of COVID relief funds.

“They won’t be able to ignore [Republicans’] letters and hearing requests,” Cleary said.

Legislatively, is expected to make much progress on their agendas. But that also means Sinema’s knack for — on issues such as infrastructure, and — could become more valuable if members want to get anything done. 

Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, she used her relationships with Republicans to help Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy and Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina on gun control. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed by a vote of 65 to 33 and provides roughly $2 billion for safety improvements, school climate initiatives and student mental health services.

“She’s deeply committed to the Senate as an institution,” Cleary said. 

Like his former boss, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Cleary said Sinema is willing to chip away at her “big vision” with smaller victories. That sets her apart from members such as Vermont progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders and conservative Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Their style, he said, is more like: “I want what I want. You can’t have anything, and why am I not winning?”

Correction: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect figure for the size of a federal pandemic recovery package.

The federal law prohibiting sex discrimination also bars colleges and universities from denying counseling and other services to abortion patients and contraception to all students — even in states where abortion is now severely restricted, the U.S. Education Department said Tuesday.

The , which clarifies the longstanding rules for federal Title IX funding that virtually all colleges and universities receive, comes as several states have moved to ban or greatly limit abortion. The federal insistence on compliance with the Title IX regulations appears to be in conflict with some state policies.

The University of Idaho, for example, issued a memo last month  not to provide reproductive health counseling or contraception in order to comply with a state law.

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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris singled out the University of Idaho during a public meeting of the White House Reproductive Rights Task Force on Tuesday.

“They told university staff they could get in trouble just for talking or telling students about birth control,” Biden said, referencing the memo. “Folks, what century are we in?”

Idaho is among the 13 states where nearly all abortions are illegal following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that removed the nationwide right to an abortion, according to the reproductive rights policy research organization .

The Idaho Supreme Court  to hear oral arguments on the merits of three Idaho abortion laws.

The federal high court ruling “has sown fear and confusion on our college campuses,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said at the task force meeting.

Tuesday’s guidance was intended “to remind schools of their obligations under Title IX,” he added.

The department’s civil rights office  that a Utah community college violated Title IX by not making accommodations for a pregnant student and encouraging the student to drop a course because she was pregnant.

The University of Idaho memo said university employees could not provide patients with birth control or emergency contraception. The document referenced a 2021 law that bans public funding to “procure, counsel in favor, refer to or perform an abortion.”

Standard birth control can still be dispensed at student health facilities, whose workers are not employed by the university, according to the memo.

A spokeswoman for the university did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the Education Department guidance and Biden and Harris’ remarks.

Abortion bans have affected other health services, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday. Women have been denied prescriptions to treat miscarriage or conditions like arthritis and there are “threats to contraception,” including for college students, Jean-Pierre said.

Harris noted that 19th-century laws banning abortion in Arizona and Wisconsin have recently gone into effect.

Doctors testify

The White House task force outlined some dire consequences of state abortion bans.

In Wisconsin, the abortion ban is sending some patients to Minnesota and Illinois and leaving many who need care without access, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, a Green Bay OB-GYN, said.

And it’s had a chilling effect on abortion providers, who can now only perform an abortion when the mother’s life is at risk. But even the judgment required in that decision could scare doctors from performing a medically necessary procedure, she said.

“Pregnant people don’t have a warning light that comes on when they’ve crossed that threshold,” she said. “In places like Sheboygan County, where the district attorney has specifically said that he will prosecute physicians, can I count on him to trust my clinical judgment?”

Georgia OB-GYN Dr. Nisha Verma told the task force that she’s had to turn away patients with high-risk pregnancies or fetal abnormalities since that state’s six-week ban went into effect.

“Imagine looking someone in the eye and saying, ‘I have all the skills and the tools to help you. But our state’s politicians have told me I can’t,’” she said.

Appeal to Congress

Biden, Harris and Jean-Pierre all urged Congress to pass a law codifying a nationwide right to abortion.

“If there were a national law that was passed in the United States Congress to protect reproductive care, so-called (state) leaders could not ban abortion,” Harris said. “They could not criminalize providers. They could not limit access to contraception.”

Biden added that congressional Republicans would seek a nationwide abortion ban, alluding to South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill  to enact such a ban.

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Biden, who made student debt relief part of his presidential campaign, also extended a on student loan payments through the end of the year.

“Education is a ticket to a better life, but over time, that ticket has become too expensive,” the president said at the White House. “The burden is so heavy that even if you graduate, you may not have access to the middle class life that the college degree once provided.”  

The decision could lift some of the financial burden off teachers who took out loans to fund their education. A from the National Education Association showed that 45% of educators were student loan borrowers and over half of those still have a balance, averaging almost $59,000.

“Nobody goes into teaching for the money, but you have to survive,” said Joshua Starr, managing partner of the International Center for Leadership in Education, affiliated with education publisher Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt. Previously, he served as CEO of PDK International, a membership organization for educators. 

Making college more affordable, he said, “is one part of a larger fabric that we have to consider when we want to promote the idea that teaching is a sustainable job.”

The president gave himself an Aug. 31 deadline to announce his decision — the date that the pause on federal student loan payments was set to expire. His announcement from Republicans, who have said the policy gives borrowers will make inflation worse and ignores the law. Earlier this month, the GOP introduced that would limit loan forgiveness. But Democrats largely applauded the move, with Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, chair of the education committee, calling it a “milestone moment.”

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education provided an update on the $32 billion in student debt relief previously approved since the Democrats took office. That includes $10 billion for over 175,000 borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program since last October. 

Under former Secretary Betsy DeVos, the vast majority in the program were even though they took education and other service sector jobs that they believed would qualify. To be eligible for forgiveness, borrowers in the program had to submit a waiver, which expires at the end of October. Democrats Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to extend the waiver until at least July 1 of next year. 

‘Struggling to rebound’

As the cost of a has increased, the NEA report showed that educators 35 and under were more likely to take out student loans, compared to older educators. Student debt is also more common among Black than white educators — 56% compared with 44%.

Some advocates said the president’s action doesn’t go far enough. 

“Canceling $10,000 in student loan debt merely puts a Band-Aid on the real problem of reforming the system that has landed us in this mess — and within years we will be right back at the same point,” the National Parents Union said in a statement.

Kim Cook, CEO of the nonprofit National College Attainment Network, noted that Pell grants for low-income students — at an average of about $4,500 — don’t cover even half the annual cost of higher education. 

“Fast-rising and unmanageable levels of student debt are the result of a broken system for financing higher education in which many parents and students are forced to take out loans they cannot reasonably be expected to repay,” she said in a statement. The organization advocates for doubling Pell grant awards.

Experts say loan forgiveness would especially benefit early educators, who make far less than those in the K-12 system and often kept their programs open when schools were closed.  

“The pandemic shined a light on the low pay for child care providers who are leaving the industry in droves, causing a shortage of child care options for families,” said Alexandra Patterson, director of policy and strategy for Home Grown, a nonprofit advocating for home-based providers. Loan forgiveness, she said, would benefit “a workforce that is severely underpaid and is still struggling to rebound from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic while wrestling with the challenges of inflation.”

Adrienne Briggs, who runs Lil’ Bits Family Child Care Home in Philadelphia, earned her master’s in early-childhood education in 2013, but she still carries over $50,000 in debt. She didn’t qualify for relief though the revamped Public School Loan Forgiveness program because she owns her own business.

Through an income-based repayment program, her $650 monthly payments have dropped to $150, but that just stretched out the debt over a longer period. The administration is also relaxing those repayment terms, lowering the percentage borrowers have to pay from 10% to 5% of their income. And it will forgive original loan balances of $12,000 after 10 years. 

“Even having my master’s did not change my position,” said Briggs, who serves families who receive child care subsidies and wouldn’t be able to pay higher rates if she raised them. “All I ended up getting was a bill that has been haunting me all this time.”

“The distance between the federal government and your local school principal is huge,” said Ken Trump, a school safety expert who consults with districts across the country. “The federal government is the last place they look for resources.”

Launched in 2020, was an outgrowth of the Federal Commission on School Safety created after the 2018 mass shooting that left 17 dead at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Max Schachter, the father of one of the students killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the updated clearinghouse in the new law. 

The legislation gives the Department of Homeland Security responsibility for the Federal Clearinghouse on School Safety Evidence-based Practices. That could suggest the resources included would lean more toward what is often referred to as “hardening” schools with armed officers and tighter security, Trump said. 

“Are we really saying that our education departments are inept and incapable of handling school safety?” he asked. 

The clearinghouse is part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the gun reform law sparked by the May 24 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead, including 19 fourth graders. While some observers said the new law makes only “modest progress” on , others were pleased that it broadens the scope of what it means to keep schools safe by emphasizing mental health services. 

“I take some consolation from the fact that we are not trying to ram through the increasing militarization of schools,” said Meg Caven, a senior research associate at the Education Development Center, a nonprofit research organization near Boston. But she added that there’s still limited evidence behind many school safety efforts. “[Schools] want an out-of-the-box solution and there isn’t one.”

The legislation comes as the , released Tuesday, shows 93 school shootings with casualties occurred during the 2020-21 school year — the highest number since the government began collecting the data in 2000. Many of the incidents occurred on or near school property while the buildings were closed for remote instruction.

Research backs to school safety — securing the physical space as well as emphasizing violence prevention and ensuring students feel welcome and supported at school. But researchers note that schools and communities face “enormous challenges” in striking that balance. 

A 2018 Johns Hopkins University study found on the effectiveness of controlling access to schools and adding more school safety hardware. 

Adam Lane, principal of Haines City High School in central Florida, said he’s viewed the existing clearinghouse, but relies much more on local sheriff’s deputies who regularly walk through his school site and review safety procedures. 

“I’ve got a face, a name and a cell phone number,” he said. “They know me. They know my students.”

His 3,000-student school also has 12 counselors, a social worker and a school psychologist. He said he would use any additional funding from the law to further reduce counselor caseloads, currently at 300.

The law provides roughly $2 billion for school safety improvements, school climate initiatives and student mental health services. Other provisions that focus on students and schools include:

• Expanding criminal background checks for gun buyers under 21 to include juvenile justice records, as well as mental health histories, which some say could result in unintended consequences. Riya Saha Shah, managing director of the Juvenile Law Center, said there currently is no central repository for juvenile mental health records and that states might try to make it easier to access such information because of the law. “We don’t know what it will be used for beyond this particular background check,” she said, adding that it could make students reluctant to seek help from school counselors and mental health specialists. 
• Allowing districts to bill Medicaid for mental health services to students with an individualized education program, including telehealth, and providing $50 million to update Medicaid systems for school-based services. AASA, the School Superintendents Association, has been for this flexibility. Within a year, the education department must also work with other federal agencies to create a technical assistance center to help districts, especially small and rural ones, with billing questions and administrative issues.
• Providing $1 billion for the education department’s Student Support and Academic Enrichment program — the part of the Every Student Succeeds Act that calls for students to have a “well-rounded” education. The funding can be used to improve student engagement and school climate with offerings such as art and music programs, foreign language and environmental education. The funding also supports educational technology
• Providing $500 million for training school counselors, social workers and psychologists through an existing Department of Education .
• Including $240 million for , which stands for Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education. A partnership between state education and mental health agencies, the program provides training to school staff members and other professionals working with students. Sixty grantees have received funding since 2018, and according to the website, over 141,000 students have been referred for mental health services.
• Increasing funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program by $50 million. These funds will be used to expand afterschool and summer programs for older students.
• Including $40 million for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network — a system of 116 centers that provide care and train educators and other professionals to understand the impact of trauma on children.

Delta was causing cases to spike, and the schools where many Head Start programs are housed typically had mask mandates in place. 

But in February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance to reflect lower transmission rates. Mask rules for young children, the CDC said, should be the same as those for the general population.

Now Coyne, a Head Start director in the Boulder area, is confused. “Head Start feels like the lone place where masks are required,” she said. “For staff, it feels really out of context.”

Members of Congress, including several Democrats, agree.

Earlier this month, the Senate approved that would “disapprove” the rule, essentially wiping it off the books. was introduced last month in the House, but it’s unclear if action will be taken soon. The White House said President Joe Biden won’t sign it. Officials say the mandate — which even requires staff and children to wear masks outside — gives parents “additional confidence” that their children are safe and protects infants and toddlers in Early Head Start programs who can’t wear masks. It’s also necessary, they argue, because a vaccine for young children has yet to be approved.

“Parents of children under 5 are in a really difficult position right now. They don’t have the choice to vaccinate their children, so they are dependent on the adults who care for them to do everything they can to continue protecting them,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and chair of the education committee, said before the May 3 vote. 

She opposed the resolution, saying it would permanently hamstring the administration’s ability to mandate masks and vaccines in Head Start in the event of a new,dangerous variant or a future pandemic. , in fact, have reinstated mask mandates or are strongly urging students to mask because cases are rising.

Once a vaccine is available for younger children she said it could make sense to revisit the rule, “but we are not there yet.”

Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve their vaccines for younger children. Reviews were scheduled for , but the governors of Colorado and Massachusetts have to act sooner. 

South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune, who sponsored the resolution, suggested that if Biden can on immigration along the southern border, he should do so for young children. 

“The scientific evidence for masking toddlers is shaky at best,” he said on the Senate floor, citing the World Health Organization against masking children under 6 and that masks inhibit language and social skills. Children also face of serious illness from COVID, studies show. 

Researchers, however, have found that masks on preschoolers interfere with their development. 

Meanwhile, half the states don’t have to follow the rule because in two cases blocked it. That leaves the rest of the country in limbo.

“It’s messy, it’s tricky, and that’s why we go back to Head Start roots — locally driven with high standards,” said Tommy Sheridan, deputy director of the National Head Start Association, which represents both families and programs. The rule, he said, is making it hard to hire staff. “The administration knows this is something that needs to change.”

In December, the association asking for waivers from the rule or solutions that “balance safety with local circumstances.”

David White, CEO of WNCSource Community Services, a Head Start grantee serving four North Carolina counties in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, estimates that his centers have lost about 25 of their 220 staff members because of the vaccine mandate. With early-childhood programs already coping with staff shortages, he’s concerned about having enough teachers this fall.

If the vaccine mandate makes it harder to attract and retain staff, and if it “means having closed classrooms because parents don’t like the mask mandate,” he said, “at some point it becomes counterproductive.”

Before the pandemic, states were serving 44% of 4-year-olds. Now they might not reach 40% over the next 10 years, the report found. 

“The pandemic erased an entire decade of progress in preschool enrollment,” said Steven Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, which released the report. He added that it was “minority children and children from low-income families who lost out most.” 

As in past years, this year’s pre-K report provides an overview of how many children states serve, how much they spend per child and the quality features of programs that support children’s learning and development.

But this 19th edition also conveys the extent of the pandemic’s blow to states’ pre-K systems. Concerns about COVID and reluctance to participate in a virtual program topped the reasons thousands of parents decided to skip pre-K.

“It’s unacceptable to go back to where we were in March 2020,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. “Our littlest learners need more.”

Cardona and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joined the Institute’s Monday call with reporters, signaling the Biden administration’s push for a larger federal role in public pre-K.

‘First order of business‘

Becerra highlighted passage of the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan, which many states have used to offset state budget cuts, pay pre-K teachers and keep programs open in spite of enrollment loss. Without federal relief, spending cuts to pre-K would have been much worse, the report said. 

But Biden began his administration with a pledge to do much more — provide universal pre-K for all 3- and 4-year-olds. When last year’s annual report was released, early education advocates were still hopeful Democrats in Congress would pass Build Back Better, a domestic spending package that included $400 billion for child care and pre-K. 

Momentum stalled, and the war in Ukraine and inflation have pushed some of the president’s education priorities aside. The Senate education committee recently held to draw attention to families’ struggles to find quality, affordable programs for young children, but a divided Congress is unlikely to address the issues soon.

Republican leaders don’t agree with ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s plan to address those challenges. Their would expand the existing federal block grant for child care. Democrats are still pushing to pass without Republicans’ support.

Barnett said he hopes early-childhood legislation is the Senate’s “first order of business” this week, and added in the media call that the House plan, which passed in November “could find widespread support in Congress.”

Last Thursday, Biden returned to the topic at a Democratic fundraiser in Seattle, citing research findings on high-quality pre-K and the benefits of young children attending school — “not daycare.” 

Overall, state funding declined for pre-K for the first time since 2014, by 3% — almost $255 million, adjusted for inflation. Twenty-six states cut state funding by at least 2%, including those with long-running universal pre-K programs, like Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. 

Arkansas, however, was among the 14 states that increased spending by at least 2%. The state kept its Arkansas Better Chance classrooms open the whole year. Individual classrooms only closed if there was a COVID outbreak.

“We continued to push through,” said Lori Bridges, director of early childhood programs for the Arkansas Department of Education. While enrollment fell by about 2,800 children at the beginning of the year, parents gradually became more comfortable with safety procedures, Bridges said, and by the end of the year, 87% of the slots were filled. 

The report includes Arkansas among the 10 states “within striking distance” of serving at least 70% of their low-income 4-year-olds. The state, which targets its program to children in poverty, served over 10,400 4-year-olds last year, and would need to enroll about 8,600 more to reach 70%.

Federal funding for universal pre-K, Bridges said, would allow the state to offer free pre-K to middle class families, but she added that with limited staffing and classroom space, her state currently couldn’t implement such an expansion even if it had the funds to do it. “There would have to be some kind of phase-in,” she said.

The researchers who surveyed almost 15,000 school staff members on student behavior and toxic school environments plan to find out. 

This week, the American Psychological Association  a follow-up survey to keep tracking the extent of violence against school staff and its effect on educators’ decisions to stay in their jobs. 

“This will give us strong comparisons across time,” said Susan McMahon, chair of the task force behind the survey and an associate dean in the College of Science and Health at DePaul University. 

The current study showed 37 percent of administrators have been harassed or threatened with violence from a student, 42 percent have experienced similar treatment from a parent and 15 percent have been the victim of a violent incident involving a student. 

Those findings reflect responses collected during the 2020-21 school year, when many schools remained closed. Recent reports from and professional organizations suggest schools are now seeing even more defiant and aggressive acts from students and that teachers aren’t waiting until the year is over to walk away. 

“The fact that many schools were hybrid or online during the time of the survey makes these rates even more concerning,” McMahon said. “Not only are schools operating in person, the effects of the pandemic are extensive in terms of lost loved ones, lost learning, health issues and the stresses related to COVID-19.”

The results come weeks after President Joe Biden drew attention to student mental health as part of his State of the Union address and followed up by signing a federal budget that includes $111 million to increase the supply of school counselors, social workers and psychologists. The researchers point to that would further increase both staff training in mental health and positions for those professionals. But they also say school climate has deteriorated and adding more staff alone won’t fix the problem. The researchers analyzed over 7,000 written responses, in which staff expressed the need for more security personnel and said they’ve faced “belittling” comments from parents and the community. 

“We’re asking for more than just mental health money,” said Ron Astor, a public affairs and education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a member of the task force. “This is a pressure cooker. We need clear guidelines around issues of civility.”

A from the National Association of Secondary School Principals also pointed to rising concerns over harassment, with 34 percent of principals reporting online threats from parents and 29 percent reporting in-person threats from parents.

Elliot Duchon, a former superintendent in the Jurupa Unified School District, near Los Angeles, said political strife and escalating fights and curriculum have contributed to a breakdown in school climate. In some districts, parents encouraged their children to go to school before districts dropped mandates.

“Parents are literally teaching their kids to disobey school rules,” said Duchon, now a consultant with F3Law, a California firm specializing in education.  

A look that ‘meant trouble’

Tracy Cooper, a veteran school bus driver in the Orange County Public Schools in Florida, who testified during a Thursday on the survey findings, said a parent threatened to have her fired because she enforced the district’s mask policy.

“Luckily for me, I’ve only had one student threaten to physically attack me,” she said. A boy “had this look on his face that meant trouble” and then tried to push her down as she walked through the aisle, she said..

Maggie Maples, a recreational therapist in the Mustang Public Schools, near Tulsa, said she’s arrived at schools this year to work with students only to find they’ve been suspended.

“Eighth-grade boys can get a little violent,” said Maples. “There are a couple kiddos who are really defiant when it comes to agreeing with teachers. They cuss them out or make threatening comments.”

The data shows some educators have had enough. Researchers found between 23 percent and 43 percent of respondents wanted or planned to quit the profession. The rates across regions were fairly similar, ranging from 35 percent in the Midwest and West to 38 percent in the South. State-level surveys, including those in and , point to similar results.

Now a year later, local reports show some followed through on those intentions. In the , 169 teachers left between December and mid-February, and the lost more than 50 teachers shortly after the school year began. Experts, however, say it’s too soon to conclude that teachers are quitting at higher rates than in a typical year. A number of factors, including more open positions fueled by federal relief funds, could contribute to staff vacancies.

“We really are in the middle of a crisis right now,” said Autumn Rivera, a sixth grade science teacher from Colorado and one of four current finalists for national Teacher of the Year. “It’s very rare for teachers to leave in the middle of the school year.”

Not all schools are experiencing the same uptick in violent outbursts. Michael Brown, principal of Winters Mill High School in Carroll County, Maryland, north of Baltimore, said he braced himself for a rash of discipline issues last fall.

While there were a few “rough patches” around the holidays, that’s no different than a typical year, he said, adding that students seem to be grateful for school experiences that they missed while schools were closed. When the school held an outdoor homecoming dance, students stayed until the end despite occasional rain. 

“It’s almost like a reintroduction to everything,” Brown said. “Just having the normal things that they had taken for granted has really helped to reduce some of those behaviors.” 

Disclosure: Linda Jacobson co-authored several books with Ron Astor on and students facing .

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. With a vote of 53 to 47, Jackson picked up support from three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah.

According to the White House, Jackson, who will be the first Black woman on the court, watched the vote with President Joe Biden. 

President Joe Biden made history Friday when he nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, however, she’ll likely face pressure to sit out one of the most important cases involving race and education in recent years. 

In 2016, she recused herself from a against the U.S. Department of Education because she has served on the Board of Overseers of Harvard University, where she previously graduated magna cum laude and served as editor of the Harvard Law Review. Prior to her confirmation hearings for a federal judgeship, she explained in a that she “was serving on the board of a university that was evaluating its own potential response” to sexual assault guidelines.

That rationale is likely to be revisited if she sits on the court next term when it hears an upcoming case in which the university is a defendant, one of two challenging race-based admissions policies. Plaintiffs argue that affirmative action policies at both Harvard and the University of North Carolina discriminate against Asian Americans by giving preference to Black and Hispanic students. 

Charles Geyh, an expert in judicial conduct at Indiana University, said Jackson’s first responsibility would be to ask herself whether she can be impartial. But the degree of the board’s involvement in creating and implementing the policy also factors into the decision.

“The more involved she was, the more a reasonable person would look at this and say, ‘I don’t know if she can weigh this thing in an even-handed way,’” he said. “It wouldn’t shock me to find that some senators will try to leverage that.”

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard is one of several high-profile education cases the court will hear in coming years. Other potential issues expected to work their way up from the lower federal courts involve religious school choice, the rights of transgender students and the public status of charter schools.

Jackson, who attended a Miami-Dade high school, is the daughter of public school educators, whom she thanked Friday during remarks at the White House. 

“My father made the fateful decision to transition from his job as a public high school history teacher and go to law school,” she said. “Some of my earliest memories are of him sitting at the kitchen table reading his law books. I watched him study. He became my first professional role model.” Her father served as a school board attorney for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools and her mother was a principal at one of the district’s magnet schools for 14 years.

Despite her strong public school connections, Jackson has served on boards of private schools in the D.C. area — Georgetown Day School and a Christian school in Maryland that has since closed.

The Montrose Christian School opposed abortion, another issue Jackson could face on the court. The school’s mission statement also said marriage should be limited to those between a man and a woman. Questioned by Sen. Josh Hawley, a conservative Republican from Missouri during hearings last year on her nomination to the appellate court, she responded that she did not “necessarily agree with all of the statements 
 that those boards might have in their materials.” 

None of those potential conflicts came up Friday, however, when Biden formally announced her nomination.

“Her opinions are always carefully reasoned, tethered to precedent and demonstrate respect for how law impacts everyday people,” he said. “It doesn’t mean she puts her thumb on the scale of justice one way or the other, but she understands the broader impact of the decisions.” 

If confirmed, Jackson won’t change the ideological make-up of the court, where conservatives have enjoyed a supermajority since 2020. That means on a major educational issue like school choice — where liberals typically oppose public funds for religious schools — the addition of Jackson would be unlikely to affect the outcome.

But as the first Black woman on the court, Jackson would likely be more attuned to issues of race and gender as reflected in school dress codes or , and she might see “discrimination that maybe another justice might not,” said Preston Green, an education professor at the University of Connecticut. 

Jackson would join the court at a time when conservative justices have signaled they’re open to rolling back abortion rights and have already moved in the direction of more religious freedom. 

“This court is really undoing a lot of decisions that people have thought were off the table,” Green said.

‘So long overdue’

Prior to her service on the D.C. Court of Appeals, Jackson served as a trial judge on the Federal Court in Washington for 8 years. Biden called Jackson’s experience as a trial judge a “critical qualification,” and civil rights organizations celebrated the nomination.

In 2020, she blocked the from allowing child welfare agencies receiving federal grants to turn away LGBTQ youth and families. And in 2018, Jackson ruled that the Trump administration failed to follow proper procedure when it sought to end funding for teen pregnancy prevention.

“I’m elated. It’s groundbreaking, and so long overdue to have a Black woman on the Supreme court,” said Sasha Buchert, senior attorney at Lambda Legal, which focuses on the rights of LGBTQ students and adults. “She has a stellar civil rights record.”

Buchert is among the legal experts who expect a case involving the rights of transgender students to reach the court at some point. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments in last week, could clash with the 4th Circuit,which ruled in that a transgender boy could use the bathroom that matched his gender identity. The Supreme Court turned down an appeal of that case, but conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said they would have heard it. 

Joshua Dunn, a political science professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, said the court also could ultimately confront the issue of whether transgender girls should be able to play women’s sports.

“I don’t see any way that they can dodge that one,” Dunn said. “There will be some split circuit decisions sooner rather than later.”

— a challenge to Idaho’s ban on transgender girls in women’s sports — is currently moving through the 9th Circuit. Long considered one of the most liberal appellate courts, the circuit court recently because of appointments by former President Donald Trump. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Arizona-based law firm, is also expected to appeal challenging a Connecticut policy that allows transgender girls to play in girls high school sports.

Dunn said it’s hard to predict how justices would rule in such a case, adding that if Jackson is confirmed, all three liberal members of the court would be women. 

The conservative members, he said, could be “suspicious” of ruling that bans like Idaho’s should stand, but added he could see “some of the liberal wing of the court having concerns” about transgender girls in sports.

The fact that Justice Neil Gorsuch, a conservative, wrote the 2020 opinion in could be a factor in any future cases involving LGBTQ rights. In that case, the court decided that federal law prohibits employment discrimination against LGBTQ workers. But Buchert said the ruling also left open the door for restrictions outside the workplace.

A ‘minimalist course’ 

Before the end of the current term, the court will issue an opinion in , which challenges a Maine law banning some religious schools from receiving public funds for tuition assistance. How the court rules in that case could determine whether Jackson might face a similar school choice issue if she’s confirmed.

Experts expect the court to rule in favor of the plaintiffs, who say the state is discriminating against religious families. “My sense is that [Chief Justice John] Roberts’s ability to keep the conservatives on the minimalist course that he established is over,” Dunn said, but added that the court could also leave open the possibility for similar cases in the future.

A decision in a , which focuses on whether a student can sue a charter school under the federal equal protection clause, is expected this spring. 

Jackson won’t be on the court to hear a church-state separation case this term in which a football coach argues he should be allowed to pray publicly after games. But when she clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, the Supreme Court justice she’s in line to replace, the court ruled that student-led prayer at football .

In choosing Jackson, Biden passed on California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, and J. Michelle Childs, a federal district court judge in South Carolina, who not only went to public K-12 schools like Jackson, but also earned a law degree from the University of South Carolina.

That leaves Superintendent Susan Enfield balancing keeping athletic programs running — which requires students to test three times a week — against maintaining an adequate supply of kits for the test-to-stay program and students displaying symptoms.

“We have a few thousand [tests] right now,” she said. “At the rate we’re going through them, that’s not going to last us more than a couple weeks.”

On Wednesday, the Biden administration to address the demand, announcing it will send 5 million rapid and 5 million lab-based PCR tests to schools each month to support screening and test-to-stay programs, which allow students to remain in class after exposure.

During a surge, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will organize testing sites in or near schools for students, staff and families. The new resources are in addition to the $10 billion for school-based testing released last year.

In Highline, and in districts across the country, the has been sagging under the weight of Omicron and increased testing protocols. Requirements that students test after the holidays, combined with test-to-stay procedures, have created fierce competition for kits at the same time similar mandates are being enacted in other parts of society. at testing facilities, sold-out stores and are contributing to that President Joe Biden hasn’t managed the need for testing as well as he handled the vaccine rollout.

Republicans, but also some Democrats, the administration’s response to the Omicron outbreak at a Senate committee meeting Tuesday, accusing top health officials of acting too late to make more tests available. 

“I’m frustrated we are still behind on issues as important to families as testing, and supporting schools,” Senate education Chair Patty Murray said during the hearing.

Biden is expected to discuss his “whole-of-government” response to the surge Thursday. According to the White House, the administration has been finalizing contracts with companies at-home tests through the Postal Service and completing work on a government website where people can order them. Starting Saturday, insurance companies will be required to cover the cost of at-home tests, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday.

But while distributing tests to everyone who wants one might be “admirable,” districts need a more targeted approach, said Julia Rafal-Baer, who recently left Chiefs for Change to launch ILO Group (for “in the life of”), where she consults with districts on pandemic recovery efforts.

Districts, she said, “need to count on a consistent supply of tests with a real focus now on those who are mildly symptomatic,” she said.

Even as they scramble to have enough tests on hand, educators are thinking ahead to a time when testing asymptomatic students won’t be necessary. Districts, Rafal-Baer said, need to begin looking at “shifting protocols” in order to keep schools open as more students get vaccinated. 

“Any kind of shutdown at this point is going backwards,” she said, “and it’s going backwards to a point that we know is devastating.”

For now, COVID testing is part of keeping schools open.

Mara Aspinall, an adviser to the Rockefeller Foundation and a biomedical diagnostics expert at Arizona State University, said that in 2020, commitments from the foundation and governors to purchase tests allowed manufacturers to accelerate production. 

Through the , rapid tests went directly to schools and nursing homes. The federal government’s of BINAXNow tests also ensured states and districts a dependable inventory.

But before the Delta variant, when cases were declining, demand for testing tapered off. Such fluctuations, Aspinall said, make it hard for “manufacturers to anticipate whether their product will be sold when it’s available, or whether it will sit in a warehouse and expire.”

, which makes BINAXNow, shut down a lab in June and then restarted production when the Delta variant drove up demand.

‘Can’t justify going remote’

Whether schools can back off testing and tracing asymptomatic students, however, is still a matter of considerable debate, especially at a time when positive cases are reaching all-time highs.

Florida officials last week said they would begin to those who are at higher risk for getting severely sick from COVID-19, which contradicts guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One infectious disease expert the switch as a “recipe for disaster.”

In the Cobb County Schools in Georgia, leaders said they would increase access to testing but no longer require , in keeping with new state guidelines. Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said contact tracing — tracking down all possible close contacts of a student who tests positive — has drained staff resources.

The district’s COVID was last updated Dec. 17, before the holiday break, but according to the county health department, community transmission is , with 2,657 cases per 100,000 residents. 

“Giving up on contact tracing feels one step closer to giving up entirely on any pretense of mitigation,” said Cobb parent Alan Seelinger, among those who have advocated for masks and remote learning during COVID surges. “Our continued pleas for the superintendent and school board majority to make our schools safer feel pointless.”

But to Ragsdale’s point, tracing takes up staff time when schools are already coping with shortages. Washington superintendent Enfield, a former high school English teacher who is one of two finalists for superintendent in San Diego, taught a sixth grade science class Monday. She’s also sent all central office staff members with teaching certificates to cover classrooms. 

With student absentee rates about 20 percent, Enfield said some teachers have pushed for remote learning, but as long as 80 percent of kids are coming to school, “I can’t justify going remote right now,” she said. 

In addition, some schools are severely short-staffed because teachers are sick. “If you have a critical mass of staff at school out, you’re not talking about remote learning, you’re talking about no learning,” she said.

Considering COVID risk

If districts see declining support for testing students without symptoms and not enough staff members to trace close contacts, they should make decisions based on the level of COVID risk in a school community, said Leah Perkinson, a manager at the Rockefeller Foundation.

Immunocompromised students, those in multigenerational households with essential workers and those in contact with many people on a daily basis should be prioritized for screening, she said.

“The risk that they come into the school with COVID is higher, the risk of them spreading to others is higher and the consequences of infection are more dire than they are for their non-immunocompromised peers,” she said.

Calls for updated guidance regarding COVID testing are also coming from health care providers. 

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and its PolicyLab last week released for K-12 schools that suggest possible testing for those with mild symptoms and discontinuing weekly testing for students and staff unless transmission is high — and even then, just on a voluntary basis.

“Our guidance goes further than that of CDC’s in allowing more exposed but asymptomatic children and staff to return to school and reducing staff burden for contact tracing and weekly testing of asymptomatic individuals,” according to the document.

Elizabeth Lolli, superintendent of Dayton, Ohio, schools, decided to partner with her county’s health department for testing to avoid overwhelming staff and drawing criticism from families over COVID protocols.

“There’s enough controversy to keep everybody away from the reason that we’re here — so we can focus on kids,” she said. 

But the district still requires students to get tested if they’ve been out sick, and drive-through lines at the at the Montgomery County fairgrounds stretch around the track, with waits up to an hour.

Before the most recent outbreak, some education leaders were also hearing administrators ask: “What’s the end game for this?”

“At some point, that’s a fair question,” said Jason Leahy, executive director of the Illinois Principals Association. He added that some schools are sending students home because they don’t have rapid tests on hand. But then students are absent while waiting for results of PCR tests.

“COVID is not going away. We have to figure out how to live with it,” he said. “We need the CDC to step up and give an idea of what that would be.”

Calling it a “significant encroachment,” the Supreme Court on Thursday that would have impacted about a quarter of the nation’s school districts and potentially contributed to further staff shortages.

“Permitting [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] to regulate the hazards of daily life — simply because most Americans have jobs and face those same risks while on the clock — would significantly expand OSHA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization,” the opinion said.

The court’s three left-leaning justices, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented, arguing that the decision “stymies the federal government’s ability to counter the unparalleled threat that COVID–19 poses to our nation’s workers.”

As schools struggle to handle COVID-19 outbreaks amid staff shortages, the U.S. Supreme Court Friday heard a lawsuit over an employee vaccine mandate that some experts suggest could stretch districts even thinner.

In November, President Joe Biden that employees in organizations with at least 100 workers be vaccinated or wear a mask and test weekly. The requirement applies to about of the nation’s public school teachers and staff members, after factoring in the several states that have already imposed their own vaccine requirements for district employees.

The plaintiffs, 27 states and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, sued the U.S. Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, arguing that the mandate — set to go into effect Monday — would create a “labor upheaval” and that many employees will quit rather than comply. The plaintiffs asked the court to block the mandate from being implemented, and a ruling on that could come as early as this weekend.

“This is going to cause a massive economic shift in this country,” said Scott Keller, representing the businesses. He and Ohio Solicitor General Ben Flowers argued that states and Congress — not OSHA — have the authority over public health regulations and that COVID-19 transmission is a risk everywhere, not just in the workplace.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, speaking for the Biden administration, stressed that “grave danger exists” when people gather indoors together, which they are more likely to do at work.

The hearing took place as other challenges to vaccine mandates — for both educators and students — move through the legal system. The San Diego Union School District’s vaccine mandate is facing two challenges, one of which also awaits a response from the Supreme Court. And a federal judge in Louisiana last week blocked the Biden administration’s requirement that all Head Start staff be vaccinated by the end of January. 

Even the judge in that case expects the administration to appeal.

“This issue will certainly be decided by a higher court than this one,” Judge Terry Doughty, of the Western District of Louisiana, wrote in his ruling. A Trump appointee, he argued that the Biden administration has overstepped its authority and the mandate could make it difficult to keep classrooms fully staffed.

“If the executive branch is allowed to usurp the power of the legislative branch to make laws, then this country is no longer a democracy — it is a monarchy,” he wrote.

‘Thousands of people dying’

In Friday’s oral arguments on the OSHA case, members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority also questioned the the legality of the agency’s mandate.

“This is something that the federal government has never done before,” said Chief Justice John Roberts.

But the more liberal justices focused on case and hospitalization rates.

“By this point, we know that the best way to prevent spread is for people to get vaccinated,” said Justice Elena Kagan. “We are still confronting thousands of people dying every time we look around.”
On Wednesday, there were more than 700,000 new cases in the U.S. and more than 1,500 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The , however, has declined since the Delta surge in September.

According to Nat Malkus, an education policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the mandate would directly apply to districts in 26 states that have their own OSHA plans. But even in those states that are exempt, it could “change the calculus for districts” and make them more likely to require vaccines or regular testing if most other employers in their communities are already enforcing the mandate. In the 24 states directly under OSHA authority, state and local employers are not included.

He noted that if the court opens the door to OSHA having broad authority in this case, it will be “harder to close it in the future,” and would strengthen the government’s argument in the Head Start case. 

While some children turn 5 while in Head Start, most in the federal preschool program for children in poverty, are still too young to be vaccinated. Children are less likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19. But with Omicron leading to higher positivity rates and recent in pediatric COVID-related hospitalizations, medical experts have stressed the importance of surrounding young children with family members and caregivers who are vaccinated.

The National Head Start Association, which represents Head Start families and programs, is calling for a compromise between the administration’s hard-line position and the 24 states that sued over the mandate. The rule also requires children ages 2 and up to wear masks.

“Face masks and vaccinations play a critical role in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in early care and educational settings. But the rule wants it all one way and the lawsuit wants it all the other way,” Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the association, said in a statement. “Head Start leaders are seeking the middle ground, where local programs have the flexibility to work within local guidelines to keep classrooms open and ensure children don’t lose access to crucial services because of a mandate that is impossible to operationalize.”

‘The uphill effort’

But district leaders are concerned about the immediate impact of vaccine mandates on the classroom. 

“It will make shortages worse and exacerbate the uphill effort to get and keep schools open and kids in schools,” Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for advocacy and governance at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said about the OSHA rule.

As they monitor court rulings regarding vaccine mandates for employees, school districts are also watching decisions regarding students.  

The Supreme Court is expected to decide before Jan. 24 whether to hear the case of a pro-life student from Scripps Ranch High School in the San Diego district who objects to human cell lines being used in the testing and creation of the COVID-19 vaccines. Cell lines, developed in laboratories and commonly used to manufacture vaccines, come from fetuses aborted decades ago. 

The mandate applies to students 16 and up. Students who don’t comply would be enrolled in remote learning.

“The irony about the mandate is that teachers are allowed to get religious exemptions, but students, who are at far lower risk [from COVID-19], are not,” said attorney Paul Jonna, who represents the plaintiffs.

In a separate San Diego case, the district plans to appeal a superior court judge’s decision . Let Them Choose, an advocacy organization, argues that only the state legislature or public health department — not districts — have the authority to mandate childhood vaccinations. The law also allows parents and students to opt out for personal beliefs. 

Two advocacy organizations made the same argument over the Los Angeles Unified School District’s vaccine mandate for students, which has been delayed until fall. In December, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to block implementation of the mandate.

”I don’t think we should be considering remote options,” Cardona said Tuesday in an interview with ĂÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ. “Our students deserve more, not less, and our parents have done enough to help balance school closures the first year of the pandemic.”

The secretary’s comments, however, come amid a sharp increase in schools already shifting to remote learning, either because of or . According to , which tracks schools’ response to the pandemic, there are 646 school closures this week, up from 356 last week. Following the holiday break, 421 closures are expected, but that’s still less than a fifth of the number of closures in August, when the Delta variant postponed the return of many students to in-person learning. 

Cardona’s comments amplified those made by the president in an afternoon news conference Tuesday.

“Today, we don’t have to shut down schools because of a case of COVID-19,” Biden said. He urged parents to vaccinate their children and said the best way to protect those under 5, not yet eligible for vaccines, is to ensure their family members and caregivers are fully vaccinated and have had a booster. “The science is clear and overwhelming,” he said. “We know how to keep our kids safe.”

The president announced several steps to increase COVID testing availability and expand capacity at hospitals. The administration will deliver 500,000 at-home tests to those who want them, starting in January, open more pop-up vaccination clinics, and make emergency response teams available to hospitals.

On Friday — the last day before the holiday break for many schools — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released two studies showing that test-to-stay procedures can prevent lost instructional days due to quarantine. Cardona said he didn’t have a hand in pushing for the announcement before the break, but that, “our teams talk regularly.”

“I was glad they were able to communicate it early enough,” he said. “As we’re thinking about 2022, we can use test-to-stay, as we’re thinking about how to utilize the [American Rescue Plan] funds, we can use test-to-stay to limit quarantine and keep our children in school.”

The secretary added that there’s room for improvement in providing up-to-date numbers on school closures. The National Center for Education Statistics produces data on the percentages of students attending school in-person or remotely, but are released monthly, compared to Burbio’s weekly update, and in the past, have frequently been months behind. The latest data, released last week, reflects in-person and remote learning as of Dec. 3.

“We’re going to continue to refine those systems, especially if there’s an increase in spread,” he said.

According to the Center on Reinventing Public Education, which has tracked school closings and openings since the beginning of the pandemic, only eight states have provided schools with detailed guidance this school year on when they should consider closing. 

Cardona said it’s important to not only know what percentage of students are in school, but “what’s causing potential, short-term remote learning options or what they need in order to keep their schools open.”

The House passed President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s Build Back Better plan Friday morning by a 220 to 213 vote. One Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted against it.

The $1.75 trillion package — which Democrats say creates a vital social safety net for American families but Republicans call a reckless spending spree during a period of inflation — now heads to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain. The legislation would fund universal pre-K, child care and K-12 educator preparation programs over a 10-year period.

“The impact of this proposal on educational equity, excellence and opportunity â€” from cradle to college and career — will be nothing short of transformative,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office released its  of the bill, showing the programs would increase the deficit by $367 billion over the 10-year period, a figure that doesn’t include additional revenue from tax enforcement. 

The House is expected to vote next week on President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s $1.75 trillion social spending plan, but its future in the Senate remains uncertain with some progressives wanting to add more programs to the package and two budget-minded Democrats likely to oppose those efforts.

For now, however, Democrats are celebrating the passage of half of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s legislative agenda — the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that includes funds to expand broadband access, replace diesel school buses and rid schools of lead pipes.

Some of those efforts are well-timed. Just last week, a released from the National Association of State Boards of Education showed that while 45 states have voluntary or mandatory lead testing programs for schools, only 15 provide any financial support for mitigation.

“The influx of money would help bolster state and local efforts for lead testing in schools and provide more opportunities for states to engage in the work,” said Renee Rybak Lang, spokeswoman for the association.

States, she said, will need “clear guidance” on how schools and districts can apply for the funds — $15 billion for replacing lead pipes and $23.5 billion for water treatment projects, fixing pipes and other work to provide clean drinking water.

Families and educators, however, have been more invested in whether the social spending plan — which includes funds for universal pre-K, child care, tax credits and educator preparation programs — makes it to ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s desk. For three months, progressive Democrats in the House delayed a vote on the infrastructure bill, arguing they wanted to pass both parts of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s agenda at the same time. But it didn’t work out that way. While they passed the infrastructure bill Friday night, and Biden said he will , the House was only able to pass a rule setting up a future vote for the so-called “Build Back Better” plan. Moderates aren’t ready to sign off on it until they can ensure cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office square with what the president has told them about its impact on the deficit.

To advance the bill, Democrats are using a process known as reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority to pass. But some observers suggest it could be well into the holiday season before a vote is scheduled in the Senate. And if changes are made, it would have to go back to the House for approval.

“I do have faith that when we get it out of the House, it will pass in the Senate,” said Julie Kashen, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a left-leaning think tank. “What’s driving me right now is a lot of hope and the knowledge that there are tons of constituents in West Virginia and Arizona who will benefit from what’s in there.”

Those are the home states of Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the two fiscally conservative Democrats who drove the cost of the package down from its original $3.5 trillion price tag. 

To reach that deal, the White House agreed to extend a higher child tax credit for one year instead of four, eliminated the president’s plan for free community college and took out over $80 billion for school construction. Nonetheless, Manchin, of West Virginia, has said he still for the $1.75 trillion plan, regardless of what the Congressional Budget Office concludes.

‘Not the first time’

Losing funds for building and renovating schools has been the biggest disappointment for K-12 leaders, who say it’s not just lead pipes but also mold, asbestos, leaky roofs, and inadequate heating and air-conditioning systems that threaten the health and safety of students. 

“Members of Congress cannot keep punting on funding the second largest infrastructure sector in the country and claim they want global competitiveness, high-quality educators and equitable academic outcomes for students of color,” AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said in a strongly worded statement when the $1.75 trillion agreement was announced. 

The association is asking the U.S. Department of Education to give districts more time to spend relief funds from the American Rescue Plan, which provided $122 billion for K-12, on facility needs. According to the organization’s September , a quarter of respondents said the 2024 deadline to spend the money is an obstacle because contractors are hesitant to work under that timeline as long as supply chain disruption is driving up costs and making it hard to get materials.

A spokesman for AASA said the organization has not received a response. But in a statement, the department emphasized the American Rescue Plan’s “historic and unprecedented investment in education” and said it would “continue to work with state and local education communities” to provide support, but did not say whether it would extend the deadline.

Nation ‘not partisan’ on pre-K 

While public schools won’t see more federal funds for construction anytime soon, states would potentially have up to $50 billion over the next three years for in the child care sector — including expanding and renovating facilities. Child care centers are among the settings that would accommodate new universal pre-K classrooms.

The combined $400 billion for child care and pre-K in the social spending bill would lower or eliminate the cost of care and preschool for many families. But experts say it’s still hard to predict if states that have never offered public pre-K — such as Idaho, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Wyoming — would participate.

“They don’t think they need it,” Steve Barnett, senior co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, said about those states. While the bill would allow locally funded programs to participate, Barnett added that governors would “have to decide whether they would rather be in control or turn it down and have localities go their own way.”

When pressed recently on whether he supports universal pre-K, Wyoming Republican said he thinks ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s policies aren’t helping people. 

But Kashen of the Century Foundation noted that many Republican governors were early supporters of state-funded pre-K. While the bill in Washington is partisan, she said, “the nation is not partisan on this issue.”

The child care and universal pre-K proposals in President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s social spending plan have survived efforts to slash the original $3.5 trillion price tag down to a figure more acceptable to two fiscally conservative Democrats in the Senate.

But the new $1.75 trillion released Thursday, leaves out some programs that would have directly impacted the K-12 system, such as funding for school construction, while reducing original amounts reserved for student’s at-home internet access and teacher and principal preparation. Progressive leaders in the House say they still want to see the of the reconciliation bill before agreeing to vote for a separate $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill — another major piece of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s first-year agenda. That leaves both bills in jeopardy for now.

“No one got everything they wanted — including me,“ Biden said after meeting Thursday with Democrats at the Capitol.

Two years of free community college, another signature Biden campaign promise, has been eliminated from the package. It extends an increase in the child tax credit, but just for one year, instead of the four Biden wanted. There will be enough to expand free school meals to 8.7 million students for five years and provide 29 million children with $65 per month for food during the summer.

The bill is a “commentary on what is achievable with such a small and slim majority in the Senate and the House,” said Sean Worley, a senior policy associate at EducationCounsel, a consulting firm advising districts on policy and legal issues. The Biden administration, he added, proposed a “very robust 
 new vision for what education speeding could and should be. They just ran headfirst into some political headwinds.”

The hard-won agreement over the size of the legislation was expected to be a step toward getting a vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes electric school buses, broadband access and eliminating lead pipes from schools. But progressives have repeatedly threatened to withhold their support for the infrastructure bill until they have a guarantee that the social spending package will pass. With a budget process known as reconciliation, the president doesn’t need any Republicans to vote for the plan, but he’s had a hard time getting consensus within his party. It took multiple meetings with Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to reach this point. Experts note that just because some of the family and education programs have been cut from the legislation doesn’t mean they won’t resurface in a future bill, and Congress still has other unresolved budget issues to address in early December: approving a budget for fiscal year 2022 and lifting the federal debt limit to continue paying for past spending bills. 

For now, however, Biden is aiming for a win with an early-childhood proposal that would reduce families’ costs for child care and allow states to launch or expand universal pre-K programs for 3- and 4-year-olds

“This is a fundamental shift in education,” he said Monday while visiting at East End Elementary School in New Jersey’s North Plainfield School District. “We’re going to make sure it’s available for everybody.” 

The fact that the plan — paid for with taxes on corporations and those earning over $400,000 a year — still includes $400 billion for both child care and pre-K “speaks to the recognition of early care and education as critical to our nation’s infrastructure and the well-being of families,” said Lea Austin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California, Berkeley. She said both working mothers and those with a background in the field — including Senate education committee Chair Patty Murray — have come together “to change the conditions.”

The child care provision promises to limit costs to no more than 7 percent of a family’s income and increase wages for staff. But Austin said she wants to see pay and working conditions for providers match those for preschool and elementary school teachers.

Some experts say it doesn’t make sense to expand pre-K without also improving preparation programs for K-12 educators. ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s original plan would have included $197 million for grow-your-own programs that recruit and train young people to become teachers in their own communities, as well as $198 million each for teacher residency and principal preparation programs. Those three provisions have been reduced to $112 million each. 

“It would be a head-scratcher to pump all this money into pre-K but not also bolster the educator pipeline – it’s core to successfully expanding high-quality pre-K,” said Danny Carlson, assistant executive director for policy and advocacy at the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

In a statement, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said the plan makes “historic down payments” on pre-K and child care, but she didn’t address the lack of K-12 programs in the plan. 

“Any transformational change is hard to get done, and this historic compromise is no different.” the statement said.

Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, which advocates for modernizing schools, was more direct.

“We are deeply disappointed that funding to repair or replace crumbling schools in our most underserved communities has been left out of the final [Build Back Better Act],” she said in a . “The disparities in conditions result in disparities in education delivered and student achievement.”

Worley said there’s a chance Democrats would either try to add those initiatives to the fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill — which Congress has to address by Dec. 3 — or revive the proposal next year in a fiscal 2023 budget. But he notes that the administration already  faced a tough time winning support for proposed increases to Title I for low-income schools. And that bill would have to win support from Republicans, who have so far rejected most of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s attempts to increase government spending.

”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s free community college plan could also make a comeback in a reauthorization of the HIgher Education Act, which is now 13 years past due, said Carrie Warick, director of policy and advocacy at the National College Attainment Network.

During a last week Biden said it looked like he would still be able to get a $500 Pell Grant increase into the bill.

“Increasing the Pell Grant is meaningful to … recipients, but the size of the bump will determine how much so,” Warick said, adding that “an emergency as low as $300 can lead to a student dropping out.”

The nonprofit’s shows a gap of $855 between the current Pell Grant award of $6,495 and the average community college student’s expenses. A $500 increase, plus another $400 proposed increase in the fiscal 2022 appropriations bill, would cover that gap.

Another signature piece of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s plan would have been a four-year extension in the higher child tax credit that was included in the American Rescue Plan last March — $3,600 a year for  children under 6 and $3,000 for older children. Now the increase will last for one year.

Any extension is good, said Chris Swanson, who leads the Institute for Innovation in Development, Engagement and Learning Systems at Johns Hopkins University. But he added, “The reality is things are not getting better for the American people. We still are in the midst of a pandemic coupled with major shifts in economics and employment.”

Then the whole family, Hudson’s partner included, got sick with COVID-19. They found themselves overspending on a laundry service because they couldn’t go to the laundromat and ordering take-out meals because they were too weak to cook.

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Even when she could gather the strength to help 10-year-old Emerson with his schoolwork, Hudson said “teaching him at home was way out of the realm of things I’m good at.” But now, the $500 she’s receiving each month in federal child tax credit payments allows her son to attend an afterschool program three days per week and Hudson to return to her classes.

“He’ll get to play with other kids again,” she said. “And he’s going to be getting professional help with his homework.”

The monthly deposits, which began in July, are a temporary boost to the bank accounts of most families in the nation — a result of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Congress passed in March. Benefiting roughly 61 million children, the legislation increased the annual credit from $2,000 to $3,000, or $3,600 for children under 6. Adding a provision that disburses a portion each month has allowed families to buy more and catch up with , initial surveys show. Making the payments permanent is a major priority for progressive Democrats, while President Joe Biden has proposed a more limited extension. Either way, the policy is a focal point of the left’s efforts to pass a major reconciliation bill over Republican opposition.

“In my mind, there’s not a more important education reform that you could pass than making the Child Tax Credit permanent,” Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado told ĂÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ. The former Denver Public Schools superintendent is one of six Democrats in Congress pushing to ensure the payments continue.

But Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat who has said he won’t vote for a $3.5 trillion package, questions whether the extension should move forward without that recipients are working.

continues the credit for four more years, and makes it permanently refundable, meaning that even if parents earn too little to pay federal taxes, they’ll still get the credit. But that was when Democrats were set on passing a $3.5 trillion package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has acknowledged that the final figure is likely to .

The impact of the tax credit on families has been of particular interest to Phil Fisher, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon. Not long after the pandemic began, he began tracking the extent to which financial strain, vanishing child care and family isolation led to increased parental anxiety and greater irritability among children. Families — especially those who are low-income, single-parent, Black and Hispanic — whether they would be able to cover their housing, food and other basic needs from one month to the next. That unpredictability only contributed to the stress.

“If you’re worried about how much food you’re going to have on your table, if you’re worried you’re going to be evicted, it’s harder to be responsive to your kids,” Fisher said. “These payments are a big shot in the arm for families that are in need.”

The effects of economic hardship on young children go beyond crying spells or tantrums — and could add to the challenges educators face as those children enter school. Children born during the pandemic have lower language, motor and cognitive skills than those in a pre-pandemic sample, according to from researchers at Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital.

“Work-from-home and shelter-in-place orders, for example, along with closed daycares, nurseries, and preschools may have dramatically changed the quantity and quality of parent, caregiver, and teacher-child interaction and stimulation,” they wrote, but added that development among young children in more well-off households has been less affected.

The findings have not yet been reviewed by other researchers, but the conclusions add to the results of of Massachusetts parents with young children. Fifty-eight percent said the pandemic has negatively impacted their young children’s academic development.

‘Working, married or misusing the money’

Measuring how families spent the additional money — and whether guaranteed income actually improved children’s well-being and ability to learn — are key policy issues for policymakers and researchers.

That’s why many are anticipating the results of a timely study that aims to answer those questions. , a $17 million project launched in 2018, doesn’t focus specifically on the child tax credit, but rather examines the impact of a similar, unrestricted monthly payment, which the families will stop receiving when the children reach 3 years and 4 months. Most are just now turning 3.

The researchers recruited 1,000 low-income mothers with infants, gave them debit cards and randomly selected them to receive either $333 or $20 each month until the children were old enough for preschool. The researchers are tracking the children’s brain function and development to measure the impact of a poverty-reduction program during the early years.

Initial results will be released later this fall. The researchers are also examining whether the mothers are still employed and whether they’re using the extra income for drugs or alcohol — questions that lead researcher Greg Duncan, an education professor at the University of California, Irvine, has come to expect based on decades of work in this area.

“You never see the political debate focus on anything other than whether the mom is working, married or misusing the money,” he said. “It’s never about the child.”

In fact, restrictions on who should be eligible for such payments have been among Republicans’ stipulations for expanding the credit. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s would double the amount available to married couples — $12,000 annually, compared with $6,000 for single parents. Like Manchin, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah say to receive the credit. In addition, some Republicans have argued the rush to set up the monthly payments could or improper payments to those who aren’t eligible.

But Fisher said the pandemic makes it harder to determine whether some families are more deserving than others. His research shows that many families “went over the edge very quickly” because they didn’t have any savings or were unable to get a credit card.

‘The biggest difference’

Initial surveys show most parents have used the child tax credit funds to cover basic necessities, such as food, utilities and rent. But from ParentsTogether Action, a national advocacy group, showed more than a quarter of the 1,200 parents responding put the money toward enrichment for their children and 12 percent spent it on education.

After a year of turning down her daughters’ requests, Christa Jimenez of Denver said the extra $500 per month means she can say yes to things like new art supplies and a streaming service so they can watch PBS shows in Spanish.

The pandemic has been a “straight-up period of no for parenting,” she said. “No, you can’t see Grandma. Now you can’t go to the park. No to afterschool activities.”

She doesn’t know if her children’s school will offer enrichment programs this fall, like chess club and choir, but that’s another way she hopes to use the funds. Federal relief bills included three rounds of stimulus payments for families — totaling $3,200. But Jimenez, who saw her work as a and small business owner dry up last year, said the child tax credit has been even more helpful.

“It’s made the biggest difference for our family,” she said. “It’s monthly, so you can plan for it.”

But for how long?

The current proposal extends the credit through 2025, which would cost by $450 billion, according to the nonprofit Tax Foundation’s .

would extend it for three years. But Bennett said making the increase permanent would impact millions of children and cut the nation’s 16 percent in half.

“Our job as proponents is to push as hard as we can to extend it for as long as we can,” Bennett said.

Democrats saw a chance for a bipartisan approach to the issue earlier this year when Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah proposed a that would also send monthly payments to families. But Bennet said as long as the GOP isn’t willing to reverse any of former President Donald Trump’s , there’s no room for negotiation.

That could change in two years if Republicans gain control of the House, said Katharine Stevens, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. She and colleague Matt Weidinger have their that would allow parents to bank future tax credit funds in advance — as much as $15,000 per year — so they can either work less during their child’s earliest years or afford quality child care.

She called the Democrats’ plan “short-sighted” and recommended they at least evaluate whether children’s lives improve under this policy before extending the increase indefinitely.

“Money does not enhance early development,” she said. “What money can do is help create the conditions that support early development.”

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In , the National School Boards Association said the country’s schools and educators are “under an immediate threat” and urged the federal government to “investigate, intercept and prevent the current threats and acts of violence against public school officials through existing statutes,” including the Gun-Free School Zones Act and the PATRIOT Act. The group called for a “joint collaboration” between local and federal law enforcement agencies to halt what it referred to as “domestic terrorism” carried out at school board meetings, through the U.S. Postal Service and on social media.

“As the threats grow and news of extremist hate organizations showing up at school board meetings is being reported, this is a critical time for a proactive approach to deal with this difficult time,” which includes tumult around mask mandates and classroom instruction on critical race theory. The group cited more than 20 instances of threats, harassment and intimidation during school board meetings that targeted education officials in recent months.

“Coupled with attacks against school board members and educators for approving policies for masks to protect the health and safety of students and school employees, many public school officials are also facing physical threats because of propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula.”

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

School board meetings have become ground zero for political unrest in recent months as conservative groups and former Trump administration officials have against school officials as a campaign strategy. Though news articles have highlighted outrage that include divisive and at times violent rhetoric, it’s unclear if any education leaders have been injured.

In one incident, on aggravated battery and disorderly conduct charges for allegedly hitting a school official as he was being escorted out of a school board meeting. In Ohio, a school board member was mailed a letter that warned “we are coming after you” and threatened that the school official would “pay dearly” for requiring students to wear masks. In a recent story for ĂÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ, school leaders discussed how they faced online threats and vandalized campuses. Candace Singh, who leads a school district near San Diego, said she was threatened with warnings like “You better watch out” and “Watch your back.” Such language, she said, has become “accepted in the public discourse, where it never would have been tolerated before.” Some districts, like the Rockwood School District in suburban St. Louis, resorted to hiring private security earlier this year to protect staff.

Earlier in the month, the National Association of Secondary School Principals to “do more to protect school leaders from rampant hostility and violence that disrupts our schools and threatens the safety of our educators and students.”

In , the school boards association and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, called on the public to stop using violent threats to express their opinions about pandemic-era school reopening decisions.

“We oppose the increasingly aggressive tactics creeping into board and community meetings, and we cannot let frustrations and tensions evolve into name calling and intimidation,” Daniel Domenech, AASA’s executive director, said in the statement. “We will never back down from the importance of freedom of speech, but we cannot — and will not — tolerate aggression, intimidation, threats and violence toward superintendents, board members and educators.”

The House will resume consideration of the $1.2 infrastructure bill Friday morning after Thursday night slipped away without a vote. 

Negotiations that would secure moderate Democrats’ support of President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s separate social spending bill — the deal that progressives are waiting for in order to vote for the infrastructure package — are continuing.

 â€œA great deal of progress has been made this week, and we are closer to an agreement than ever,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. â€œBut we are not there yet, and so, we will need some additional time to finish the work, starting tomorrow morning first thing.” 

Meanwhile Biden signed a continuing resolution Thursday night, avoiding a government shutdown and giving the Senate until Dec. 3 to work on the fiscal year 2022 budget. The president’s proposed budget includes significant increases for Title I, special education and community schools.

“There’s so much more to do,” the president said in a statement. “But the passage of this bill reminds us that bipartisan work is possible and it gives us time to pass longer-term funding to keep our government running and delivering for the American people.”

Democrats, however, wanted to include language that would lift the debt ceiling, which the government will hit Oct. 18. Republicans voted against that plan.

With Congress tackling overlapping budget issues this week, advocates are most focused on saving President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s bold agenda for schools and families.

The proposed $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better” plan, which would lower costs that are “squeezing families month after month and year after year,” includes major increases for early-childhood education, teacher and principal preparation, school construction and community college. But Democrats don’t have enough support to pass it, even though they’re using a process known as reconciliation, which doesn’t require a single Republican vote.

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Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who along with fellow Democrat Krysten Sinema of Arizona to such sweeping legislation, made it clear in a statement Wednesday night that he can’t be convinced otherwise.

“Since the beginning of this reconciliation debate, I have been consistent in my belief that any expansion of social programs must be targeted to those in need, not expanded beyond what is fiscally possible,” Manchin . “While I am hopeful that common ground can be found that would result in another historic investment in our nation, I cannot — and will not — support trillions in spending or an all or nothing approach that ignores the brutal fiscal reality our nation faces.”

The debate over the president’s agenda has revealed sharp divides among Democrats, while Republicans have held a united front against compromise proposals. Disagreement among Democrats is most obvious over the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was weighing whether to bring to a vote Thursday. Moderates have demanded a vote on the funding for roads, bridges and broadband, while progressives have said they won’t support the infrastructure bill unless they first get a vote on the larger reconciliation bill.

It’s not the infrastructure bill THEN maybe the Build Back Better package down the road. That wasn’t the deal.

Progressives won’t back down. We’re fighting the people’s fight and we’re going to deliver the entire Build Back Better agenda.

— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal)

Adding to the tension, Congress will try to avert a government shutdown Thursday by passing a continuing resolution that keeps the government open past the end of the fiscal year. Democrats are also faced with meeting an Oct. 18 deadline to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its loans.

The House on Wednesday passed, along party lines, a bill to raise the government’s $28 trillion debt limit — the total amount the government can borrow to cover its obligations. But the bill is not expected to pass in the Senate. Defaulting can lead to , hinder and make it much harder to cover the costs of the reconciliation bill if it passes.

Democrats argue that the Trump administration was partially responsible for the increase in spending, so Republicans should bear some of the responsibility for raising the limit. But Republicans have said as long as Democrats control Congress and the White House, they can add it to their reconciliation bill.

The ongoing stalemate has some wondering whether the bill will survive.

“You’ve got to figure there’s now a chance, very small but real, that the bill stalls out,” Rick Hess, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said about the proposed $3.5 trillion package.

Dropping the total price tag, perhaps as low as , could “set off some brutal intramural battles among the [Democrats],” Hess said, and would “certainly offer a stress test of various Democratic priorities.”

Mary Filardo, executive director of the 21st Century School Fund, which advocates for modernizing schools, is among those lobbying to keep their priorities in the final package. She’s been meeting with Senate staff members about the $82 billion slated for school construction and repairs.

“They seem pretty subdued, like they don’t really know what is going on,” she said, adding that they “support the issue, but it doesn’t seem to be a must have.”

Cutting school construction funding, she said, could impact another key priority in the package — universal preschool. While ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s $200 billion plan would put some classrooms in community-based centers, schools would also need to accommodate more pre-K students.

‘Could still be effective’ 

Some observers suggested there’s room to negotiate amounts over the big-ticket provisions, such as pre-K, child care and free community college.

“All of these could still be effective even if the top line numbers go down,” said Julia Martin, legislative director at Brustein and Manasevit, a law firm specializing in education.

But Shantel Meek, a professor at Arizona State University and director of the Children’s Equity Project, said she hopes lawmakers don’t trim the preschool proposal by “pitting access and quality against one another. In order for [universal pre-K] to meet the promise we know it can, we need access to quality — that means supporting the whole child, whole family.”

Others are concerned whether some of the smaller provisions would get cut from the package, such as the $4 billion to continue the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which addresses the digital divide for students learning at home.

“We want to make sure the connectivity [and] devices provided 
 aren’t in a position to go dark and disconnect students,” said Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for advocacy and governance at AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

Originally part of the American Rescue Plan, the $7 billion program allows school districts to purchase devices for students and cover the cost of at-home internet service. According to the , more than $1.2 billion in funds have been awarded so far to 3,040 schools, 260 libraries and 24 organizations that include both. A second application window runs through Oct. 13.

Even if all of the education-related proposals stay in the package, Martin warned that one way negotiators could lower the final figure is to increase states’ share of the cost. The for example, currently calls for the federal government to pick up 100 percent of the cost of serving all 3- and 4-year-olds for the first two years, with states contributing increasing percentages of the cost over time.

“My concern would be if the state matches were to go up,” Martin said. “I think that would result in a patchwork implementation at best, and may make it more difficult for states to access funds.”

Linda Smith, director of the Bipartisan Policy Institute’s Early Childhood Development Initiative, said another option would be to limit the number of years covered by the legislation or to limit the program to children with greater needs. But she said that would be hard to do after the president pledged it would be universal.

Nonetheless, she remains hopeful that the early-childhood proposals would remain a centerpiece of the final plan.

“It always gets a little crazy when the sausage-making gets into high gear,” she said. “I still think something will come out of this.”

Funding for federal programs expires on Sept. 30, but that’s just one budgetary challenge facing Democrats in the coming weeks as they seek to pass President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s massive agenda for schools and families.

The House has already , known as a continuing resolution, to keep funding programs at the same level through early December. That would give lawmakers more time to work on the fiscal year 2022 budget.

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On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared open to removing a provision to increase the debt limit, which Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, has threatened to block. The standoff was leading to a potential . To pass in the Senate, the bill would need 60 votes — or 10 Republicans in addition to the 50 Democrats.

“We will keep government open by Sept. 30 
and continue the conversation about the debt ceiling,” she said.

Democrats will need to find compromise as well in order to pass ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s “Build Back Better” plan to lead the nation out of the pandemic — even though they control both houses of Congress and the White House. Majority leaders in the House and Senate are trying to balance competing priorities among progressive and more fiscally conservative wings of their parties. Those differences could impact two major pieces of the president’s agenda apart from the fiscal year 2022 budget — a $1 trillion infrastructure package that is scheduled for a House vote on Thursday and a much larger $3.5 trillion proposal that includes universal preschool, school construction and free school lunches for more children.

Democrats are using what is known as a budget reconciliation process for the $3.5 trillion plan, which means they can pass the package without a single Republican vote in the House or the Senate. But experts say they still may have to scale back the size of the package in order to secure enough Democratic votes.

Biden met with leading Democrats Wednesday in an effort to to bridge some of their differences, but according to the White House, “there is more work ahead in the coming days.”

‘Game of chicken’

While federal law dictates timing for the annual budget, Democrats are also treating ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s legislative agenda with a sense of urgency. Sean Worley, a senior policy associate at EducationCounsel, a consulting firm advising districts on policy and legal issues, suggested that it would get harder, politically, to pass either package if they drag into next year because of mid-term elections.

First up is the infrastructure package. That plan includes $200 million over five years to replace lead pipes in school, $5 billion for electric school buses and an increase in funding to $1 billion a year to improve safety for students biking and walking to school. Another $65 billion would go toward improving the nation’s broadband access and making the internet more affordable.

Pelosi originally scheduled the vote for Monday as part of a deal with moderate Democrats who said they would withhold their support for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill unless the infrastructure bill made it to the president’s desk first. But  have issued their own ultimatum, arguing they won’t support the infrastructure legislation unless they simultaneously vote on the larger reconciliation package. Now a floor debate is expected Monday.

Worley predicted this “game of chicken” could lead to the infrastructure bill’s failure.

“I would expect progressives to vote against the bill and an insufficient number of Republicans will vote in favor,” he said. “This could deepen rifts within the party and will make intraparty negotiations on the [$3.5 trillion] bill that much more difficult.”

The infrastructure deal with Republicans does not include facility improvements for the nation’s schools. But the current version of the reconciliation bill — what Biden calls a “human infrastructure” proposal — would provide $82 billion for school construction and renovation projects. The plan’s $3.5 trillion price tag, however, looks shaky with Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Krysten Sinema of Arizona breaking with their fellow Democrats over the cost.

Manchin, earlier this month, called for a on the plan, saying it’s not smart policy to pass such a large package amid rising inflation. In addition to funding for school construction, the package proposes almost $200 million each for teacher residencies and , more than $100 billion for two free years of community college, $35 billion to provide free meals to more children and $450 billion for child care and preschool.

So far, early-childhood education advocates aren’t ready to settle for less.

“It’s sizable, but it’s sizable for a reason, because there is that much need,” said Sarah Rittling, executive director of the First Five Years Fund, which focuses on federal early-childhood policy.

”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s plan seeks to limit the cost of child care to no more than 7 percent of a family’s income, increase wages for child care providers, and work with states to make universally available to 3- and 4-year-olds.

Rittling said she doesn’t expect the early-childhood provisions in the package, which have broad support among Democrats, to get cut. “It is so incredibly popular on top of being so incredibly necessary,” she said.

The reconciliation bill includes much of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s agenda for social and education programs.The also features major increases for programs such as Title I, special education and Head Start.

The House passed the 2022 appropriations bills at the end of July, but Worley suggested that even without the debt limit debate, those increases “were going to be difficult to see across the finish line.”

Los Angeles students must get their second dose of the shot by Dec. 19 and those involved in sports and other extracurricular activities will need to have their second shot by Oct. 31.

“I think it’s the first big domino to fall,” said San Antonio Independent School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez, chair of Chiefs for Change, a network of state and district superintendents.

As the board deliberated, across the country in Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden used a White House address to unveil aimed at vaccinating and testing school staff and to combat those he called “bullying” Republican governors who have banned districts from mandating masks. Taken together, the actions on both coasts represent some of the more aggressive official actions to quell COVID’s effects in schools since lockdowns were first imposed in March of 2020.

”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s plan requires close to 300,000 school staff members working for federal programs, such as Head Start and Department of Defense schools, to be vaccinated, calls on all districts to regularly test students and staff, and provides grants for districts confronting loss of funding for implementing mask mandates and other safety measures.

What the administration is calling the “Path Out of the Pandemic” includes making 280 million rapid and at-home tests available using the Defense Production Act and lowering the cost of over-the-counter tests from Walmart, Kroger and Amazon. Free testing at pharmacies will be expanded to 10,000 sites nationwide.

The actions come amid widespread anxiety over the Delta variant, which is interfering with a smooth return to school. With more students back in class across the country, schools are reverting to remote learning due to COVID-19 outbreaks. According to , 1,400 schools in 35 states were closed as of last Sunday, about twice as many as the week before. Others are sending thousands of students home to quarantine, and among children are the highest in states with the lowest vaccination rates.

“We’re in the tough stretch, and it could last for a while,” Biden said, adding that stricter vaccine requirements are needed. “This is not about freedom or personal choice. It’s about protecting yourself and those around you.”

Martinez criticized the administration, however, for not stepping up efforts to get vaccines approved for younger children and broadly publicizing clinical trial data that can strengthen confidence among parents.

“Here we are in September and I’m not hearing anything about it,” he said. “We need a national bold stance on vaccines. We’re held hostage by this virus.”

Emergency use authorization was initially expected in the fall, but in August, the Food and Drug Administration said it likely won’t be until the .

”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s announcement included a new grant program, using school safety funds, to help districts like Martinez’s that are facing funding loss and litigation related to mask mandates and other COVID-19 precautions.

“We should be thanking districts for using proven strategies that will keep schools open and safe, not punishing them,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “We stand with the dedicated educators doing the right thing to protect their school communities, and this program will allow them to continue that critical work of keeping students safe.”

Texas, Florida and Arizona are among the states that have banned local districts from issuing mask mandates. The Biden administration has launched civil rights investigations in several states, arguing that such actions are creating an atmosphere where some parents might think it’s not safe enough to send their children to school.

is also suing the San Antonio district for mandating vaccines for staff, but Martinez doesn’t plan to back down; in fact, he said he would mandate booster shots for staff as well. Martinez said the vaccines and boosters are necessary “to maintain stability.in our classrooms,” but added it’s hard to imagine the backlash he’d receive if he mandated vaccines for students. Reportedly one of to lead the Chicago Public Schools, he declined to comment on whether he would push for a vaccine requirement for students in Chicago if he becomes superintendent there.

‘Fear that this was coming’

According to the , just over half of 12- to 15-year-olds and almost 60 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds are vaccinated. A released last week showed that a third of parents of older teens and over 40 percent of parents of 12- to- 15-year-olds say they still don’t plan to have their children vaccinated.

In August, the Culver City Unified School District, which serves a middle and upper middle class population on the westside of Los Angeles, became the first district in the nation to require vaccines for students.

“At the high school, the parents I know are all very happy the district made this decision,” said Erika Lewis, who has two students in the district. ”I personally don’t know any who opposed it.”

in Los Angeles County considering a mandate include Alhambra, Beverly Hills and El Monte.

But a mandate in Los Angeles Unified, where almost three-quarters of students are Hispanic, might not be as well-received.

Surveys show greater among Blacks and Hispanics, and show that they encounter more barriers to getting the vaccine, such as inability to take time off work. ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s directives included requiring employers to allow staff time off to get vaccinated.

Others say it’s too soon, considering the vaccine for children 12 and up hasn’t received full authorization yet from the FDA.

“This vaccine is still experimental and that’s something the district is not explaining to parents,” one mother told the board in Spanish through a translator. “Why are you in such a hurry to vaccinate all children?”

Another asked who they could sue if their child experiences negative side effects.

In interviews with ĂÛÌÒÓ°ÊÓ, other parents celebrated the district’s decision.

“I am thrilled that LAUSD is taking the health of our children and educators so seriously,” said Ariel Harman-Holmes, whose three children —ages 2, 7 and 9 — have disabilities. “I have three children who are too young to be vaccinated, so we rely on the vaccine-eligible members of our community to keep them safe.”

Rebecca Cunningham, a parent of a 5th and 9th grader in Los Angeles schools, who is also in favor of the mandate, said the district has worked hard to eliminate roadblocks that some families might face in getting the vaccine.

“I really feel like we’re getting to the point where maybe six months ago there were legitimate reasons why someone would want to wait,” she said, but not now.

During the board meeting, physicians presented data showing that the risks from the vaccine, including inflammation of the heart, are smaller than the health risks associated with getting the disease.

At the White House, Biden said his patience was “wearing thin” with the 80 million Americans who remain unvaccinated and expressed anger at governors who are “ordering mobile morgues” instead of promoting the vaccine. He called on governors to require all school staff to be vaccinated.

“Talk about bullying in schools,” Biden said of GOP governors in states like Florida and Texas. “If these governors won’t help us beat the pandemic, I will use my power as president to get them out of the way.”

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement that the union stands “in complete support of this plan and of the administration’s effort to protect as many people as possible.” But National Association of Secondary School Principals CEO Ronn Nozoe called for more support from Washington.

“The added pressures and responsibilities of carrying out more robust testing and screening programs will fall on the shoulders of principals, assistant principals and other administrators,” he said. “This is intensified by a growing number of threats being made against school leaders for simply implementing safety measures to protect their communities.”

In March, Biden made $10 billion available to districts for COVID-19 testing. Districts can also use federal relief funds for testing and vaccination efforts. Leading up to the school year, the Biden administration challenged districts to hold vaccine clinics and available on how to operate them, but some districts still ran into .

The Los Angeles district also has an extensive COVID-19 testing program, in which all students and staff, vaccinated or not, are required to test weekly. The district rolled it out last school year, but reliance on the program to catch positive cases has increased this year with most students back in school.

“Our charge remains clear — to provide students the best education possible, which includes the many benefits of in person learning,” said Interim Superintendent Megan Reilly. “Vaccinations are an essential part of the multi-layered protection against COVID-19.”

“Some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — [such] as children wearing masks in school and the political disputes — for their own political gain,” he said in comments at the White House. “Some are even trying to take power away from local educators. The intimidation and threats we’re seeing across the country are wrong.”

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Cardona elaborated on in a Wednesday, saying: “the Department may initiate a directed investigation if facts indicate a potential violation of the rights of students as a result of state policies and actions.”

He noted that the department’s Office for Civil Rights investigates allegations of discrimination against students and the Office of Special Education Programs monitors whether students with disabilities are receiving a free and appropriate public education.

In a Wednesday with the New York Times, Cardona further expanded on the department’s rationale. “The fact that they’re not adjusting based on the illness, and the outcry from medical experts, is astonishing,” he said. “But we cannot sit around. We have to do everything in our power, including civil rights investigations and even referring matters to the Department of Justice for enforcement if necessary.”

https://youtu.be/22-bI7dBLEM?t=2037

”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s to the department references Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance regarding children under 12 not eligible for vaccines, saying the agency “has provided clear guidance to schools on how to adopt science-based strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

While he doesn’t mention specific states, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona has essentially been in a standoff with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Abbott, who both refuse to back down from their stance on masks.

But some districts continue to defy governors’ orders and are instituting mandates anyway. The Florida State Board of Education earlier this week said it will take against two counties with mask mandates in place. And the Miami-Dade County school board was discussing Wednesday whether to . Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has already said he’s in favor of it, despite any retaliation from the state.

Over the next year, they visited dairy farms, brushed Highland cattle’s long hair, and branched off to learn about elk, deer and llamas. They read stories about cows, counted cows and compared different breeds. That’s the kind of child-led learning experience that Nelson plans to continue this fall when she participates for the first time in Vermont’s Universal Prekindergarten program.

“We base our curriculum on children’s interests,” said Nelson, who has 26 years of experience in the field and even has former students who enroll their own children in her program. “We know the kids’ learning style. We have a history with them.”

Allowing providers such as Nelson to participate in a publicly funded pre-K system could speed up the timeline for providing universal access to 3- and 4-year-olds — along with tuition-free community college, the other half of President Joe ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s plan to provide four more years of free public education. But from the National Institute for Early Education Research and Home Grown, an organization working to improve home-based child care, suggests it’s not that simple. Including family child care in pre-K initiatives could satisfy parents who prefer their home-like environment and increase the supply of preschool programs in communities with limited supply, the authors say. However, they caution policymakers against expecting in-home providers to immediately meet the same standards and regulations as pre-K centers.

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As Congress begins writing a $3.5 trillion plan that is expected to include $200 billion for early-childhood education, the report recommends lawmakers take a gradual approach that considers the perspectives of providers and parents.

“It’s really tricky for home-based providers. They lose out when they don’t get included [in public pre-K programs],” said Natalie Renew, Home Grown’s director. But pre-K systems that are primarily oriented toward schools and centers also disadvantage the providers and the families they serve, she added.

The primary downside, she said, is that if more home-based providers seek state funds to serve just preschoolers that could mean less space for infants and toddlers, space that is already in . Working parents are more likely to choose family child care over centers for , surveys show.

According to of ”țŸ±»ć±đČÔ’s American Families Plan, families would be able to “choose the settings that work best for them.”

‘People coming into your home’

Parents family child care because it offers a more personalized environment, allows them to keep siblings in the same program and can offer flexible hours that centers can’t accommodate. Including home-based providers in state pre-K also could further diversify the workforce, allowing parents to find caregivers that reflect their culture and speak their language.

Family child care providers have to to be licensed, but many state pre-K regulations regarding facility space, hours of instruction and education requirements for teachers don’t easily translate to someone who cares for children in their living room. State funding could be a predictable source of income for providers, but it also means “more people coming into your home” to monitor compliance, Renew said.

New Jersey, for one, requires pre-K classrooms to be 950 square feet. “Would homes need dedicated spaces for the pre-K program with minimum square footage per child equivalent to the classroom requirement?” the authors ask.

States often require lead pre-K teachers to have a two- or four-year degree and special training in child development. Currently almost 50 percent of home-based providers have no college education, according to the report.

Educational requirements could increase the quality of family child care, but Renew said there’s a mismatch between most college-level early-childhood programs and the realities of family child care — especially around implementing a pre-K curriculum for 3- and 4-year-olds while still attending to the needs of babies and toddlers.

“It doesn’t work if we turn every family child care provider into a teeny tiny center,” she said.

Lanette Dumas, executive director of the National Association for Family Child Care, said she’s encouraged by the direction the administration is taking, but wants funding for an “on-ramp” to help providers earn degrees and make other modifications to their programs.

Finally, Renew added, there’s a false assumption that home-based child care is cheaper. The report argues that including such providers on a large scale could end up costing more.

In the Seattle Preschool Program, for example, a coach or consultant visiting a center would provide training for two to four teachers at once and “indirectly impact up to 40 kids,” said Monica Liang-Aguirre, who leads the program at the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning. With family child care, that same coach might be working with one provider who serves maybe two or three children. The coach is still receiving the same pay and likely has added travel expenses to reach at-home providers.

Renew said there’s not yet enough research on whether children benefit from home-based pre-K programs in the same way they do in centers.

San Francisco has the most experience, with at-home providers representing 18 percent of the city’s pre-K sites. In Seattle’s program, funded by a local , 25 at-home providers — about 2 percent of the overall number — are expected to participate this fall.

Liang-Aguirre said the department waived the bachelor’s degree requirement because it wasn’t realistic for home-based providers. The majority are immigrants and speak languages other than English.

They serve families that are often reluctant to use out-of-home care and are “trying to figure out if it’s a good idea to let their children go to preschool,” Liang-Aguirre said. “We see it as a really important model and an important way to make preschool accessible for all families.”

The vote came the day after the Senate passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which now goes to the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she won’t introduce the infrastructure package for a vote until she’s assured all 50 Democrats in the Senate are on board with the rest of the party’s agenda regarding social, immigration and climate policies. But to get there she’ll have to balance competing agendas within her own party.

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“The House will continue to work with the Senate to ensure that our priorities for the people are included in the final infrastructure and reconciliation packages, in a way that is resilient and will build back better,” Pelosi said in Tuesday.

Moderate Democrats, however, her to take action on the infrastructure bill now and not wait until later this fall when committee leaders in the Senate work out the details of the $3.5 trillion bill. Observers say it could be late fall before the plan passes the Senate.

“After years of waiting, we cannot afford unnecessary delays to finally deliver on a physical infrastructure package,” moderates said in a letter. “As we continue to recover from the pandemic, the American people are counting on us to drive real results for them in every single Congressional district.”

Senate Democrats are using a process called reconciliation that allows them to pass the spending package without any Republican votes.

Sen. Krysten Simena of Arizona, who took the lead on negotiating with Republicans over the infrastructure bill, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, another moderate Democrat, have suggested the $3.5 trillion figure is .

But Rick Hess, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said he doesn’t think most Democrats will be “treating the fiscal implications of budgetary rules with much seriousness.”

Manchin crossed the aisle in a long vote session last night to approve to the budget resolution that opposes allowing federal funds to support the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools, such as hiring consultants for teacher training. Sponsored by Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton, the legislation would add to several state laws banning educators from teaching that racism is embedded in U.S. systems to advantage white people.

It’s the larger $3.5 trillion package that concerns most education advocates. In to Congress Monday, 17 leading organizations urged lawmakers to include at least $130 billion in the reconciliation bill for school facilities — a concern that was left out of the infrastructure bill.

“The longstanding neglect of school facilities disproportionately impacts low-income school districts and those districts with particularly aging facilities,” the letter said. “These districts often lack a local tax base that can be leveraged for new school construction, major capital improvements, or building renovations and modernizations.”

School nutrition advocates want to see permanent funding for free school meals beyond the 2021-22 school year. Over 400 organizations have signed saying such a policy “eliminates the cost barrier for families who do not qualify [for free or reduced-price meals], but who still struggle to make ends meet.”

It’s unclear, however, whether Democrats can stretch the $3.5 trillion to cover everything they’d like to deliver, including $200 billion for pre-K, $109 billion for two years of free community college and several teacher education and higher education initiatives. The president’s agenda would also extend an increase in the Child Tax Credit for four more years and include paid family leave.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday it would be possible for federal relief funds to cover salaries if the governor follows through on withholding pay from superintendents and board members who require students to wear masks.

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“We’re looking at a range of options,” she said, adding that any action the administration takes could impact the “handful of states that are putting in place measures that make it more difficult for 
 leaders in the education field to protect students and their communities.”

But DeSantis shot back, saying it would be inappropriate for the administration to intervene.

“I think that they really believe government should rule over the parents’ decisions,” he said during a . “The parents are in the best position to know what’s best for their kids.”

DeSantis, the White House and school officials in districts such as Broward County and Miami-Dade are taking firmer stands on the issue as the state’s COVID-19 positivity rates and hospitalizations .

Florida’s brinkmanship on masks comes as districts across the country are feeling the impact of the more aggressive Delta variant and the pandemic once again is interfering with what parents and officials hoped would be a typical back-to-school season. Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona even raised the possibility of a return to remote learning.

“[If] the community spread gets to a certain level, it may be best to have students learning from home,” he said during a Friday town hall in Boston with the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs. “But we’re going to do everything in our power not to go there. The kids suffered enough.”

Some Florida district leaders say they’re not intimidated by the governor’s threats and argue they have a duty to require masks temporarily.

“I have a moral responsibility to be my brother’s and sister’s keeper, even if it means my salary is taken away,” Rosalind Osgood, chair of the Broward County school board, said Tuesday during a special meeting where members voted to keep the mask mandate in place. “I wonder if the governor has visited the ICU lately.”

The vote came after more than an hour of passionate arguments from parents and staff members on both sides of the issue.

“We’re really lucky that we have such a simple way to protect each other — by wearing a simple cloth mask over our face,” one mother, with her kindergarten daughter on her hip, told the board. “You have an entire community behind you.”

Another mother said the board is infringing on her right to make decisions that affect her child.

“My child does not want to wear a mask,” she told the board. “If the masks were working, why is my child having to be quarantined from exposure so many times?”

Meanwhile officials in Miami-Dade County Public Schools are still weighing their decision on mask rules, and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he’ll listen to the advice of health experts.

“At no point shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck; a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and well-being of our students and dedicated employees,” he said in a statement.

‘Keep schools open’

Florida is one of eight states not allowing local flexibility regarding mask mandates, according to Burbio’s . Those who disagree with the governor’s position have taken different approaches to the issue.

Some are maintaining that they still have a mask mandate in place, but are allowing parents to opt out. In , it’s sufficient for parents to make the request. But in Alachua County, which includes Gainesville, a doctor’s note is required.

“I’ve been called a monster, child-abuser, communist, fascist, idiot and other names not fit to print. I’ve been threatened with legal action, protests, militia ‘enforcement’ and worse,” Alachua Superintendent Carlee Simon wrote in Monday about her decision to require masks for the first two weeks of school, which began Tuesday. “Certainly we’re concerned about the threat of lost funding, but it shouldn’t come to that. After all, we want what DeSantis wants: to keep schools open and our kids in the classroom.”

Simon noted that the state its Hope Scholarship voucher program to include those who prefer a school requiring masks. The program previously only applied to students who have been bullied, harassed or assaulted, allowing them to transfer to another private or public school. Broward County board members said that new rule only hurts public schools if more families opt to go private.

Some parents think DeSantis is making the right call.

“The silver lining of COVID is that it doesn’t impact kids,” said Bill Gilles, who has two children in the St. Johns County School District, which includes St. Augustine. The district is complying with the governor’s order.

Children represent less than 10 percent of COVID-19 cases internationally, according to the .

Gilles said he and his wife were more accepting of masks last school year before vaccines were available. But now, young people more likely to become infected are the “bar crowd and not the school-age crowd,” he said. “It just doesn’t justify putting burdens on kids.”

According to the state health department’s data, are 14 percent among children under 12 and 20 percent for 12- to 19-year-olds. About 1 in every 100,000 children in Florida, 17 and under, has been hospitalized for COVID-19, which is roughly double the last peak at .56 per 100,000 in January, to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But DeSantis said in his comments Tuesday that RSV, a common respiratory infection, is contributing to increased hospitalization rates.

In June, the CDC noted that RSV cases were and that the state has a longer season of the infection than others.

‘The worsening situation’

Nationally, the majority of states are leaving the decision about masks up to local officials, and for some parents in districts where masks aren’t mandated, that’s a problem.

“Our preference is for our kids to be in person, but for everyone to wear a mask,” said Alan Seelinger, a parent of three children in Georgia’s Cobb County School District. Unlike other metro Atlanta districts, Cobb does not require masks and is no longer taking students’ temperatures or asking about COVID-19 symptoms.

A week into the new school year, however, nearly 1,500 cases have across the metro area.

“It is regrettable that this pandemic was ever politicized, so we simply ask that you employ a data- and science-driven approach in light of the worsening situation we are seeing today,” the Seelingers wrote in their letter to the board last week, sharing a Bible verse about looking out “for the interests of others.”

Seelinger, who has two children who still aren’t old enough for vaccines, would like to see the district renew the option for virtual learning. While the district still allows remote learning, parents had to make the choice at the end of last school year.

Parents in the county who want masks at the district office on Thursday.

“Kids have a right to a safe school, and right now Cobb schools aren’t safe,” Seelinger said.

Opinions about masks largely fall along partisan lines, with more than three-fourths of Democrats in a recent saying they’ll put on a mask in public all or most of the time, compared to less than 40 percent of Republicans.

In California, one of nine states currently with a mask mandate for schools, the issue surfaced in a recent debate among leading Republican candidates vying to unseat Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a September recall election. All four candidates participating in the debate mask mandates.

The Delta variant, however, has been enough to change some Republican’s minds. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he regrets signing a law in April banning mask mandates. He has tried to change the legislation, but lawmakers have declined to revisit the issue. On Friday, a judge temporarily blocked the law, to require masks.

“I can only hope in my heart this is what happens to Gov DeSantis,” Broward County board member Nora Rupert said Tuesday.