California Leaders Seek to Spur School Reopenings by April

(Bloomberg) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders said they've struck a deal that would push school districts in the most-populous U.S. state to begin reopening by April.

Under the agreement, the state would hand out $2 billion in grants for personal protective equipment, ventilation upgrades and Covid testing to districts that bring back students in kindergarten, first and second grades by the end of March. The deal also allocates $4.6 billion in funding to assist school districts that need to make up for lost learning, including possibly extending the current school year into the summer.

Districts that don't begin opening by April 1 would begin to lose 1% of their allotment of the funding for each day they stay closed.

Many schools across the state have been closed since last March, and Newsom has made reopening a priority as California's coronavirus outbreak eases. Still, it is up to individual school districts to decide when to return to in class instructions. Teachers' unions have resisted efforts to reopen without broader vaccination, testing and cleaning plans.

“You can't reopen your economy if you can't get your schools reopened for in-class instruction,” Newsom said at a briefing Monday.

California has reported a sharp drop in virus cases over the past month, with its test positivity rate falling to 2.3% from as high as 14% in January. Newsom said he expects seven counties to move out of the state's most-restrictive tier for economic activity this week, in addition to the 11 already out of that level, which would help allow for more school openings.

Schools in the state's red tier -- the second most restrictive -- or better would be required to offer in-person instruction to all students in all elementary grades and at least one middle or high school grade or risk the same penalty.

The state is setting aside 10% of the vaccine doses that it receives for educators, Newsom said.

“Our belief is this, once you dip your toe in, once you get a cohort, once you build trust, then you will start to see a cadence of reopening,” he said.

See also: Teacher Vaccine Eligibility Expands While Supply Lags

California has more than 5,800 public elementary schools with almost 3 million students enrolled. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the nation's second-largest, after New York City.

A vote on the legislative deal could come as soon as Thursday.

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