On Sunday, the leaders of the nation’s three largest school districts—Richard Carranza in New York, Austin Beutner in Los Angeles, and Janice Jackson in Chicago—published a column in the Washington Post demanding financial help to enable their school districts to function adequately as they try reopen in person in upcoming months:
“It’s time to treat the dire situation facing public school students with the same federal mobilization we have come to expect for other national emergencies, such as floods, wildfires, and hurricanes. A major, coordinated nationwide effort—imagine a Marshall Plan for schools—is needed to return children to public schools quickly in the safest way possible.” These school leaders seek funds for sanitizing buildings and providing additional protective equipment for teachers, school-based coronavirus testing and contact tracing, mental health support for students, and funding for extra summer school next year. They estimate that $125 billion in additional relief funding is needed right now.
Happy Holidays! This blog will take a break. Look for a new post on January 4, 2021.
It would appear that some of that money has been included in the modest relief package Congress is said to hope to pass before shutting down for Christmas. On Monday night, the Washington Post’s Jeff Stein, Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim reported on a bipartisan, two part emergency economic relief package: “The bipartisan group unveiled one $748 billion package that includes new unemployment benefits, small business aid and other programs that received broad bipartisan support. The second bill includes the two provisions most divisive among lawmakers—liability protections for firms and roughly $160 billion in aid for state and local governments… The second bill could end up falling out of the final deal if CONTINUE READING: Public Schools Need the Modest Dollars in Current Fiscal Relief Package, But Addressing Educational Injustice Will Take Much More | janresseger
