K-12 school leaders across the nation face huge questions about how and when they’ll be able to safely reopen schools this fall. And now lawmakers in Washington are starting to pay attention.
The U.S. Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing today (Wednesday, June 10, 2020) at 9:00 a.m. (CDT) focused on the safe reopening of schools. The committee is slated to hear from invited state and local school leaders about the challenges they face.
With schools scheduled to reopen in about two and a half months, school leaders face challenges to try to implement a wide range of recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as well as state and local health departments to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus to enable classes to safely resume in the fall.
Among the challenges likely to be discussed include the needs to hire more cleaning staff and school nurses, purchasing more supplies and planning for social distancing in classrooms, school buildings and school busses.
A recent analysis by the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO) and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) found that a typical school district with 3,700 students could face nearly $1.8 million in extra costs next year. Senators will likely hear that many school districts will be unable to bear those additional costs as state education budgets are slashed due to falling state revenues.
