News Update

Plan to reopen schools is unfair to students in urban districts, superintendents say

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Safe Schools for All” plan fails to address the needs of urban districts, which serve nearly a quarter of California students, according to a letter signed by seven school district superintendents.

The proposed plan would give $2 billion — from $450 to about $700 per student — to school districts that agree to extensive Covid testing and other requirements for phasing in transitional kindergarten to second grade as early as Feb. 15. Students in grades 3 to 6 would follow a month later.

The plan would result in educational inequity with less-affluent students, who are typically in neighborhoods with higher Covid-19 infection rates, continuing to work from home while students in more affluent neighborhoods return to school, according to the letter signed by the superintendents of Los Angeles Unified, San Diego Unified, Fresno Unified, Long Beach Unified, San Francisco Unified, Oakland Unified and Sacramento Unified school districts.

According to the rules announced by Newsom, schools would be able to participate only if the average rate of infections in their counties over a seven-day period was less than 28 cases per 100,000 residents. Although that is four times the rate districts in “purple” counties are now allowed to open under the waiver program, it is still far lower than the infection rates in many counties.

The superintendents say that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on low-income families, with Black and Latino people much more likely to be hospitalized for COVID.

“There is little likelihood the low-income communities we serve will meet the proposed ‘Safe Schools for All’ deadline of February 1 and many experts say even March 1 is unlikely, given current health conditions,” stated the letter. “Sadly, statewide COVID numbers appear to be moving in the wrong direction in nearly every meaningful category — infections, hospitalizations and deaths.”

The letter calls for public health funding for Covid-19 testing and vaccinations, as well as funding for learning loss recovery plans including summer school, among other things.