On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a hearing titled, “COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely.” The purpose of the hearing was to examine the current challenges and implications facing K-12 leaders as they develop plans to safely reopen this fall in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The witnesses included Dr. Penny Schwinn, Tennessee Commissioner of Education; Dr. Matthew Blomstedt, Nebraska Commissioner of Education; Ms. Susana Cordova, Superintendent of Denver Public Schools; and Dr. John King, President and CEO of the Education Trust.
Both parties generally agreed that the goal should be getting students safely back to school as soon as possible, and the conversation mainly revolved around three main themes: testing and public health, the digital divide, and academic opportunities and resources. Although there was much to agree on, Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) still differed on the level of federal involvement in school reopening process. Sen. Murray stated, “there are countless questions schools need to answer before they can reopen safely, but school districts and schools can’t do this alone, schools need clear federal guidance and funding to help measure learning gaps and make up for revenue shortfalls. On the other hand, Sen. Alexander continued to proclaim that decision-making around school reopening should belong to state and local governments due to a better understanding of their unique challenges, and continued to promote the need for liability protection for school districts.
Other topics discussed were racial disparities and how COVID-19 could exacerbate them, the digital divide, childcare, social and emotional learning, nutrition services, transportation and the funding disparities between what state and local governments will need and what they have already received through the CARES Act. If you would like to watch the entirety of the hearing, click here.
Last week, the committee hosted another hearing on the same topic, but with the focus on higher education. You can watch a recording of the hearing here.
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