Trump -- Funding Schools and Reopening

As the coronavirus crisis expands, Trump said Tuesday (July 21) that he would "pressure" governors to open schools in time for the beginning of the coming school year. He applied some pressure on Wednesday morning. In a tweet (July 22) in which he accused Democrats, with no evidence, of wanting to keep schools closed for political reasons related to the November election, Trump said he "may cut off funding" if schools are not opened.

“In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”

(Donald Trump)

Then, Trump on Thursday (July 23) shifted and acknowledged that some schools may need to delay their reopening this fall as the coronavirus continues to surge. Speaking at a White House news conference, Trump said districts in some virus hot spots “may need to delay reopening for a few weeks.” He said the decision will fall to governors.

Even as he tempered his position, though, Trump insisted that every school should be “actively making preparations to open.” Students need to be in school buildings to prevent learning setbacks, he said, and to access meal programs and mental health services.

Trump on Thursday said he’s asking Congress to provide $105 billion in education funding as part of the next virus relief bill. It’s meant to help schools reduce class sizes, hire teachers, rearrange spaces and provide masks, he said.

But if a local district doesn’t open, Trump said, the money should be steered to parents so they can pursue other education options such as private, charter, religious or home schools.

Facts First: Trump can't unilaterally cut current federal funding for schools. However, he could possibly restrict some recent pandemic relief funding – which would likely be challenged in court – and refuse to sign future legislation for federal grants and bailouts for schools.

Despite the law, the president plays politics with public schools. As the nation’s education leaders are making high-stakes decisions about how to reopen schools this fall during the coronavirus pandemic, they are under tremendous, competing pressures.

Many in charge just do not believe reopening person-to-person is viable. Education Week is tracking and sharing reopening plans of a sample of school districts across the country. As of July 23, 9 of the 15 largest school districts are choosing remote learning only as their back-to-school instructional model, affecting over 2 million students.

In this potentially volatile time, Trump has expressed no concern about the health implications of reopening in person and no support for compromise plans that many districts are considering. He clings to an all-or-nothing opening stance and threatens to withhold funds if he doesn't get his way.

In response to Trump's bullish actions, the School Superintendents Association objected to Washington dictating such decisions, citing Mr. Trump’s past support for local control of schools. “You don’t support local decision making if it’s conditional on only making choices you support,” the organization said in a statement.

(Peter Baker, Erica L. Green and Noah Weiland. “Trump Threatens to Cut Funding if Schools Do Not Fully Reopen.” The New York Times. July 10, 2020.)

The absence of any feasible working plan from the administration came into stark relief during Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos' more than 20-minute-long interview with CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."

Asked repeatedly, DeVos would not say that schools should follow basic reopening guidelines, which had been authored by the CDC and previously derided by Trump as "very tough and expensive."

(Greg Krieg. “'Normally, people don't play with kids' lives': Trump's push to reopen schools becomes another partisan fight.” CNN. July 14, 2020.)

DeVos's is hinting that she might seek to divert federal dollars to parents whose school districts do not open fully, or at all, in the fall is a signal that the administration could seek to use the crisis as cover to put a more lasting dent into public schooling.

"It's the move towards privatization," said Jamaal Bowman, the public school principal who was recently nominated for a House seat in New York. “It’s driven by market-based ideology and the so-called, quote-unquote ‘choice movement.’ So when we talk about vouchers and money moving with kids at the whim of the parents, that’s what we’re talking about. And it’s an example of disaster capitalism within the public education sector.”

(John Nichols. “Ayanna Pressley to Betsy DeVos: ‘I Wouldn’t Trust You to Care for a House Plant Let Alone My Child.” The Nation. July 14, 2020.)

All in all, Trump has polarized the debate about reopening schools. Behind to Biden in the polls, he now seeks to use the issue to get votes. He frames the fight to reopen as his “concern for kids' education” versus the cautious, shut-it-down Democrats.

"Normally, people don't play with kids' lives. They'll play with adults' lives, but they don't play with kids' lives.”

– Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers