Florida teacher Amy Spies’ classroom is typically so small that her 22 fourth graders don’t even have room to hang their backpacks on their chairs.
So if each student returns when school starts next month, there is no way, he says, that his class will be able to follow the health guidelines that recommend keeping 6 feet among students to reduce the chance of transmitting the coronavirus.
But the Spies’ school, RJ Longstreet Elementary School in Daytona Beach, has yet to come up with an alternative for her that makes social distancing possible. A move like bringing in a second teacher who can teach half of her students in another classroom seems unlikely, given that her school district’s budget faces a deficit of $ 14 million.
“They’ve already tried cutting anywhere humanly possible,” said Spies, 46, who worries that because he donated a kidney to his aunt in 2011, he would be at risk for complications if he contracts COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. “With the safeguards they are trying to have in place, I just don’t know where they are going to get the money, or even the labor, to make sure it all happens.”
The spy district is far from alone. As educators across the country seek to reopen schools in the fall and welcome at least a portion of their students in person, they find themselves in an impossible situation.
With their budgets decimated by the economic downturn, many school districts wonder how they will pay for expensive new cleaning procedures, health screenings, and other security measures for those who re-enter their schools for the first time since the pandemic closed them.
The price is expected to be huge: The average-size district could pay up to $ 1.8 million to reopen all of its school buildings under the new security guidelines, according to a joint analysis by the Association of International School Business Officers and AASA, The Association. of School Superintendents.
“Districts are seeing significant cuts in their budget and wondering where the money will come from. They are caught between a rock and a difficult place, and the biggest fear is that they will be forced to open schools without safety guidelines,” Dan said. Domenech, executive director of AASA, who advocates on behalf of the 14,000 superintendents in the United States.
Still, there is an urge to bring students back. Despite the fact that there is still no reliable treatment or vaccine for coronavirus, the American Academy of Pediatrics says it “strongly advocates” having children physically present at school, citing some evidence that not only children are less likely to become infected severely from the coronavirus, they may also be less likely to spread the infection.
And remote learning is widely considered less effective, with research suggesting that low-income black and Latino students are experiencing the greatest academic losses.
What exactly the fall semester will look like will vary across the country: In Florida, the Spies school and others are slated to reopen at full capacity based on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recommendations, even as coronavirus cases in the state increase . Florida students may choose to continue remote learning rather than return in person if they have health problems. Spies has yet to hear how many, if any, of his students will choose that option.
California, which narrowly avoided a budget crisis that could have delayed the start of the fall semester in at least six major districts, anticipates a hybrid model that combines face-to-face learning and remote learning so that there are fewer children in the building. once, which facilitates the practice of social distancing.
Connecticut will allow students to return in person, but leaves the details to the individual districts. The same is true for New Jersey, where Governor Phil Murphy has said that many schools are likely to use the combined model of some learning at school and others at home.
New York City, the nation’s largest public school system with 1.1 million students, plans to reopen with social distancing guidelines, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced Thursday, though he did not provide details on what that could mean in terms of of staggering student schedules. or find additional spaces to teach them, if the plan continues.
“School districts have dealt with economic crises before, but have not dealt with an economic crisis other than a global health pandemic at the same time.”
Meanwhile, school districts are cutting costs anywhere they can, from not renewing software licenses to deferring maintenance of school facilities and laying off administrative positions at their district headquarters, said Elleka Yost, manager of government affairs and communications from the Association of Schools. International business officers.
All of that may still not be enough.
“The challenges schools face are simply Herculean,” Yost said. “School districts have dealt with economic crises before, but have not dealt with an economic crisis other than a global health pandemic at the same time.”
Federal safety guidelines, but there are not enough federal funds.
If schools return students in person, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that they provide appropriate soap and hand sanitizer, turn desks in the same direction, install sneeze guards in areas such as reception desks where social distancing is not possible, provide visual cues such as duct tape to the floor to help students and staff stay 6 feet apart, and close common spaces such as cafeterias and playgrounds, if possible, or Disinfect them strictly between uses if not.
The recommendations will be expensive to implement: For an average school district with 3,659 students in 8 school buildings, the hand sanitizer will only be $ 39,517. Additional cleaning staff to disinfect schools could be another $ 448,000. And if schools add bus aides to screen for fever-seeking students before boarding, that would be an additional $ 384,000.
Congress provided some funding to schools through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES, in late March – $ 13.5 billion – but education advocates say much more is needed.
Hopes arose this week when Democratic Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Chuck Schumer of New York on Tuesday introduced a $ 430 billion coronavirus relief bill for child care and education, of which $ 175 billion would go to K-12 schools.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called the bill “visionary” in a statement, saying it “would provide the” must-haves “of physical detachment, deep cleaning, PPE for educators and students, and resources to support our majority vulnerable students. “
Lily Eskelsen García, president of the National Education Association, urged lawmakers to pass the bill promptly.
“The American economy cannot recover if schools cannot reopen.”
“The American economy cannot recover if schools cannot reopen, and we cannot adequately reopen schools if funding is cut and students do not have what they need to be safe, learn and succeed,” he said in a statement.
But it is not clear when or if the law will be passed. A previous education bill stalled in May, when only the House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Health Solutions and Economic Recovery, or HEROES Act, a bill containing about $ 100 billion for education. The Republican-controlled Senate indicated it will not consider that bill, though last week Senator Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said Congress should give the money to schools and universities. they need for students to return.
‘There are no easy answers’
While all schools struggle to make their new reality work, experts say the districts where the majority of students live in poverty will be the hardest hit.
Schools are funded primarily through tax revenue, with about 90 to 92 percent of funds coming from state and local sources, including property and sales taxes, Yost said, which have suffered since the pandemic. it devastated the economy and cost millions of Americans their jobs. The remaining 8 to 10 percent of the funds is generally federal.
In Cobb County, Georgia, which has about 113,000 students, school officials are analyzing a $ 65 million deficit, according to John Floresta, director of strategy and accountability for the school district. That was after the county received approximately $ 16 million in federal CARES funding.
“We appreciate that,” Floresta said of CARES financing. “But in a district with a budget of $ 1.2 billion, it is not much.”
Meanwhile, in Taunton, Massachusetts, about 160 teachers and staff have received layoff notices before the new school year amid a $ 5.8 million budget cut for the district.
James Quaintance, a technology vocational education teacher at Taunton High School and president of the Taunton Education Association, said that if students return to class in person, they will require more teachers, not less and more money to fund a safe education.
“It is outrageous that people expect us to provide quality education to students in this environment,” he said. “You’re going to have to do more with less. It’s just crazy.”
Spies, the Florida fourth grade teacher, is not sure what her school year will look like. For starters, her Title 1 school, where about 75 percent of students receive free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch, does a lot on a tight budget.
Even before the coronavirus hit, spies and other teachers had complained that custodial services, which the district outsourced years ago, were not providing a satisfactory level of cleanliness. The school buses were already full.
If the funds are not there, how are we going to make it happen?
Now, there is even less to work with. Your district has just eliminated its socio-emotional learning department as a cost reduction measure, eliminating services. Spies feels that her students will need more than ever when they return.
“This has been the most challenging time in my educational career,” said Spies, who has taught for 23 years and was named the most recent Teacher of the Year at her school. “Being awake every night trying to think about what we can do to better protect our students and also trying to ensure that the opportunity gap isn’t even bigger, it just weighs heavily.”
“There are no easy answers,” he added. “If the funds are not there, how are we going to make it happen?”
