“Local school districts need the flexibility to make decisions based on a measured response to local conditions and data,” the local officials said in the letter.
The letter also demands $1.3 million the district claims the state owes the district.
In addition to the governor, the letter was sent to Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, and Rep. Erin Zweiner, D-Driftwood.
Although the letter requests a number of issues be addressed, the one involving school reopenings may be a moot point. A week ago, during an interview with a Houston television station, Gov. Abbott said he would grant local districts the flexibility to make those decisions on when to reopen. Originally, he set the three-week limit Superintendent Wright adhered to in his reopening plan, saying that any school that remained closed to in-person classes longer than three weeks would lose state funding.
“I think Mike Morath, the commissioner of education, is expected to announce a longer period of time for online learning at the beginning of the school year, up to the flexibility at the local level,” Abbott said to KTRK. “This is going to have to be a local-level decision, but there will be great latitude and flexibility provided at the local level.”
Public health experts have warned that reopening school buildings in areas where cases are rising precipitously will result in entire communities becoming infected.
“If you open K-12 in areas where virus transmission accelerating, teachers, staff will get sick, as will parents,” tweeted Peter Hotez, an infectious disease expert and the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “All it takes is for one or two teachers, staff, or parents to enter hospital, and it will be lights out.”
The Hays district letter also asked that STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academics Readiness) tests be waived for the upcoming school year as well as the state’s grading system for schools, The A-F grades are something most schools would like to see ditched even if the pandemic didn’t exist.
During that same television interview, Gov. Abbott said “It’s way too early to determine whether or not the STAAR test may not be used this particular year. We gotta wait and see.”
Last week, Wright unveiled a plan for reopening the local schools that delayed the fall semester’s opening date from Aug. 20 to Sept. 8 and said the first three weeks of the semester would be online classes only. The letter sent to the governor seeks to allow the district to extend online teaching for as long as local health officials deem necessary.
“Our teachers, staff, and administrators would like nothing more than to welcome every one of our over 21,000 students back to school; but when staff, many of whom have children in the district, are afraid to come back for in-person instruction due to an increase in the number of positive COVID cases, we have a problem that needs to be addressed,” the officials wrote.
Specifically, the letter said the district wants five requests addressed.
First: “Giving local school districts the flexibility to make decisions on providing in-person instruction or on-line learning based on local data and community values and funding for resources that will keep students and employees safe.”
Second: “Waiving STAAR and A-F rating for the 2020-21 school year. It is absurd, in the midst of figuring how to reopen and being terrified of losing a student or staff member, that the state is mandating STAAR testing and labeling schools with letter grades.”
Third: “Amend acceptable uses and qualifications for receipt of CARES Act funding for the reimbursement of expenditures on remediation or preventative measures necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 rather than using it to backfill gaps in the state budget.” The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act is a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the congress in March in response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the district’s letter, the district was supposed to receive $1.3 million “that was never disbursed and is still needed to invest in more safety equipment” along with personal protective equipment and other learning tools.
Fourth: “Additional funding to supplement costs incurred by districts to provide safe and effective learning.”
Fifth: “A commitment to allocate current or future federal money specified for schools as a supplement for existing funding commitments by the state.”
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