It seemed like there were at least the beginnings of a path forward. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released its initial coronavirus guidelines for how schools could reopen this fall two weeks ago. While there’s been debate about how this would all impact school budgets, the tools were laid out on the table.
But yesterday, President Trump threw a wrench in the works, threatening to withhold funding for schools that don’t reopen in-person this fall.
“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!” he tweeted.
At a roundtable on Tuesday, Trump said, “They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed — no way. So we’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open.”
While most school funding comes from local and state taxes, the federal government does provide a small share. Some COVID-19 funding has also been allocated for states to use for schools, and more is supposed to be in the pipeline.
Gov. Charlie Baker criticized the comment at a Wednesday press conference, saying he “would like to see kids return to school, but as part of that, [the state education department] is also expecting schools to develop programs that would work on either a hybrid basis or a remote basis depending upon what happens.” “It’s inappropriate for the feds to think about this as one-size-fits-all,” Baker said.
Superintendents and districts were told by state education commissioner Jeff Riley to prepare for three possible scenarios – a full-scale return to school, remote learning, and a hybrid of the two. Riley said the clear preference is for in-person schooling, but only if it’s safe.
“Our goal for the fall is to safely bring back as many students as possible to in-person school settings, to maximize learning and address our students’ holistic needs,” Riley said in a memo attached to the guidance.
Trump on Wednesday also criticized Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for returning to the classroom as “very tough and expensive,” prompting Vice President Mike Pence to tell reporters that the CDC will issue a “new set of tools” next week.
“We don’t want the guidance from CDC to be a reason why schools don’t open,” Pence said. The current CDC guidelines have been taken into consideration during Massachusetts’ assessment of how it will roll out the fall semester.
There is some irony in the Trump administration cherry-picking its coronavirus-related fights with states, since it has at times left states very much on their own. In March and April, the Trump administration set up a bidding war for personal protective equipment that made it difficult and expensive for states to get enough supplies for medical staff.
What’s more, Republicans have long been especially protective of the idea of local control of schools.
Meanwhile, parents of color, many of whom are in communities impacted heavily by COVID-19, are particularly skeptical about whether their children will be safe if schools reopen. Black and Latinx parents were the least confident in the schools ability to reopen safely (48 percent and 44 percent, respectively) in a recent MassINC Polling Group survey of Massachusetts residents.
Lea Serena, a second-grade teacher in the Boston Public Schools and a member of the city’s reopening task force, ripped Trump’s comments, saying districts and teachers are already stressed about figuring out the best path forward. “We definitely don’t need the added pressure,” she said.
Serena said teachers would love to be in the classroom and avoid the complexities of remote learning, “but on a logistical matter, we’re definitely not ready. And I would not feel comfortable going back.”
SARAH BETANCOURT
BEACON HILL
A small group of Rep. Tram Nguyen’s Vietnamese-American constituents, who are gaining national attention, are harshly criticizing Nguyen on social media for her video supporting Black Lives Matter. (Eagle-Tribune)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Emails indicate Provincetown-based Fine Arts Work Center director Richard MacMillan was aware while working at MIT of efforts to hide Jeffrey Epstein’s donations to the university. (Cape Cod Times)
A Boston police review board first established under Mayor Tom Menino has little to show for its efforts and critics say it has too little authority to hold officers accountable for misconduct. (Boston Globe)
Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards introduces a proposal to give the council much greater say in the city’s budget process. (Boston Herald)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
The state’s contact tracing collaboration with the nonprofit Partners in Health has been scaled back dramatically, and local health officials say they’ve encountered lots of frustrations in dealing with the organization. (Boston Globe) The marked reduction in contact tracing staff was first reported by CommonWealth.
The state’s health equity task force, created to look at racial disparities related to COVID-19, is off to a slow start, missing its first deadline. (MassLive)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that President Trump cannot shield financial records from prosecutors in New York, a decision that may rank with those involving Richard Nixon and Watergate and Bill Clinton in a sexual harassment in establishing the scope and limits of presidential power. (New York Times)
Politico writer Michael Grunwald says Rhode Island’s efforts against coronavirus have become a major success story under the leadership of Gov. Gina Raimondo.
ELECTIONS
A new environmental super PAC plans to spend $900,000 supporting Sen. Ed Markey. (State House News Service)
US Rep. Joe Kennedy proposes a coronavirus relief response centered on a public works and federal hiring program that focuses on boosting hiring in minority communities. (MassLive)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has endorsed Markey but she seems less than enthused about jumping headlong into a contest that pits her Senate colleague against her one-time law student, who introduced her at her presidential campaign kickoff. (Boston Globe)
Cam Charbonnier, the only white candidate in a four-way Democratic primary race to succeed outgoing state Rep. Dan Cullinane in Dorchester, says he’s dropping out, citing the national reckoning with racism that’s underway and declaring, “I realize that this is not my moment.” (Dorchester Reporter)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Brooks Brothers declares bankruptcy, leaving 413 workers at the company’s Haverhill plant jobless and without severance pay. (Eagle-Tribune)
Thomas O’Neill III, the former state lieutenant governor and son of late House Speaker Tip O’Neill, is merging his powerhouse Boston PR agency with a Washington, DC, firm but will retain control of the O’Neill Associates lobbying practice. (Boston Globe)
EDUCATION
President Trump implored the nation’s K-12 schools to fully reopen this fall, but he has little actual say in what happens with schools, which are controlled at the local and state level. (Washington Post)
ARTS/CULTURE
A group of multidisciplinary artists will project digital animation murals reflecting the New Bedford fishing community. (Standard-Times)
Roxbury artists paint a Black Lives Matter mural in Nubian Square (WBUR)
TRANSPORTATION
Town residents in Blandford could scuttle efforts to build a new exit off the Mass Pike to break up what is now a 30-mile-long section of highway. (The Berkshire Eagle)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
WGBH reporter Jenifer McKim, students from Boston University, and interns from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting carry out a deep dive into the state’s parole system.
Following an argument between customers over mask wearing in a Walgreens, an East Bridgewater man was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, with police alleging he pulled out a gun. (The Enterprise)
Four district attorneys from other counties took the unprecedented step of trying to insert themselves into cases under the jurisdiction of Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins, and lost. (Boston Globe)
The US Justice Department, after a two-year review, determined that the Springfield Police Department’s narcotics bureau routinely uses excessive force, including punching suspects in the head or neck in order to control them. (MassLive) More from Western Mass Politics & Insight.
The US Supreme Court sides with the Trump administration and rules that employers with a moral or religious objection can decline to offer insurance coverage for birth control cost-free. (Associated Press)
The state Senate’s policing bill is reviving the debate over the police use of body cameras. (MassLive)
MEDIA
Podcast creators of color grapple with a system that doesn’t let them own their work (Nieman Lab)