Few LA County public schools apply for waivers to reopen

The Los Angeles Department of Public Health has released new data that shows that private schools continue to dominate the reopening waiver application pool. The waiver program, which allows in-person instruction for students in transitional kindergarten to second grade, was designed to prioritize the county’s neediest schools — those with high rates of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. According to program rules, waiver approvals would be distributed equally across the county’s five supervisorial districts.

But the county’s data shows that the neediest schools are not applying. As outlined by EdSource this month, the highest number of applications in the last batch were from District 3, a region that includes neighborhoods with high household income, such as Beverly Hills. Nearly 84% of all private school applicants are in District 3. And at 33 approved waivers, they make up 45% of the schools that have been allowed to reopen under this process. 

A total of 74 schools have been approved since the program became available on October 5. All of those schools were approved within the first three weeks of the program. No additional schools in November have been approved to open.

-Betty Márquez Rosales