Gov. Gavin Newsom’s widely touted $2 billion proposal to give California schools up to $750 per student to reopen by mid-February has stalled in Sacramento, with no timeline for when the money might be available.
While reopening schools remains a priority for Newsom, as well as national and state health officials, the plan is tied up in the Legislature, where elected officials have questioned whether it’s fair or logistically feasible to implement the stringent testing requirements of staff and students required in the proposal.
Legislators also criticized Newsom’s proposal, which required districts to submit a health and safety plan by Feb. 1, for not addressing vaccinations; some legislators said they don’t support reopening schools until teachers and support staff are vaccinated.
“I did not see anything in the governor’s proposal on how we would get teachers and staff vaccinated for in-person learning. How is that going to work?” Sen. Connie Leyva, a Democrat from Chino (San Bernardino County) who chairs the Education Committee, asked during a recent hearing.
Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The incentive program introduced at the end of December offered some measure of hope to families and health officials calling for schools to reopen.
But the delay in the additional funding is yet another setback for districts looking for more money and support to return students to classrooms as the vast majority of public schools remain closed across the state. Health experts say the lack of in-person instruction has left many children struggling academically and in some cases despondent if not suicidal. Parents are desperately juggling work and overseeing schooling. Political pressure is building, but districts and teachers unions remain at odds throughout much of the Bay Area over reopening.
Districts initially had until Feb. 1 to submit a plan to reopen by mid-month to qualify for the funding, but without an approved program in place, there’s nothing to apply to right now, said Jessica Holmes, assistant program budget manager for the state Department of Finance.
“We recognize the Feb. 1 deadline and we’re probably going to blow past that,” she said. “We’re working with the Legislature to move forward with a timeline and we’re still in the same place, emphasizing reopening.”
Newsom proposed funding the $2 billion proposal from the state’s unexpected revenue this year that would have gone to education anyway, but not until July. The governor’s proposal would specifically designate the money for reopening schools as quickly as possible. It primarily would apply to elementary schools, with transitional kindergarten through second grade brought back first and then up to sixth grade by mid-March. The plan would also provide additional funding for students in all grades with the highest needs, including those with disabilities, as well as homeless and foster youth.
It’s unclear how many districts would have applied by Monday. At least some education officials said they remain on standby.
In Marin County, districts are getting applications ready in case the money comes through, said county Superintendent Mary Jane Burke.
“I’m supportive of the governor trying to identify ways to remove roadblocks so students can get into school,” she said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next, but let’s be ready.”
Oakland officials said they are waiting to see a final, approved plan before commenting on the district’s application status.
School officials in San Francisco said the district “is not able to meet the timing and conditions attached to these funds, which include widespread student surveillance testing, commitment to reopen at case levels that remain within a ‘deep purple’ tier of community spread, and corresponding labor agreements.”
First-grade teacher Samantha Kelly talks to student Jack Knight at Bayside MLK.
John Storey / Special to The ChronicleSFUSD Superintendent Vince Matthews, other superintendents and several statewide education organizations wrote a letter to Newsom expressing concerns and suggesting changes.
There is broad support for reopening, with prescribed protocols in place.
In San Francisco, for example, a recent poll of parents found that 57% say they will send their students back into schools as soon as they reopen. A majority of all ethnic backgrounds and races — save Asian Americans and Filipino Americans — supported sending their children back to classrooms.
Holmes, of the finance department, said updated state guidance calls for reopening if the daily county case rate is less than 25 per 100,000, which “is more than sufficient to ensure health and safety,” according to state health officials.
Yet districts — especially in large urban areas — have resisted reopening, saying they don’t have labor support, adequate facilities or other requirements to do so.
The governor’s proposal aimed to give district officials resources to meet health and safety standards — including funds for testing, masks and other equipment — and leverage with reticent labor unions to reopen.
From the outset, it was met with skepticism in the Legislature, where some lawmakers questioned whether it would give more money to wealthy communities that have an easier time opening and punish districts in urban areas facing more challenges due to higher infection rates and less funding.
While Newsom’s plan has been criticized, it got negotiations about a school-reopening plan moving, said Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, a Democrat from Long Beach who chairs the Education Committee.
“The first pitch wasn’t perfect, but it was a start,” he said.
O’Donnell said the biggest key will be making vaccinations for teachers part of the plan. Labor leaders have said schools likely cannot reopen on a large scale unless teachers and staff are inoculated, and conflicting information about where teachers stand in the vaccine line has stoked tensions.
“The vaccine is the holy grail,” O’Donnell said. “What we need right now is to get more vaccines into the arms of teachers.”
It’s unclear whether vaccinating staff will be enough. Some labor groups have said they want to see students vaccinated, too, before they return.
Legislators have insisted that the reopening plan include a more equitable formula for districts, ensuring all districts get support even if they can’t meet the deadlines to reopen, and set clearer minimum-health standards.
The delay was a disappointment to education officials, who said the money would help get students back in class.
“The governor’s move to provide more funds to schools is absolutely the right thing to do,” said Itoco Garcia, principal of Bayside Martin Luther King Jr. Academy, a public school in Sausalito that has been open for in-person learning since September. “I believe that the ethical, moral, responsible and safe thing for us to do is get as many children back to in-person instruction in our state as we possibly can.”
Since mid-September, with the majority of Garcia’s 108 students in small-cohort classrooms full time, there have been five COVID-19 cases among staff and students, none transmitted at school, Garcia said.
Other state officials have also worked to push schools to reopen, including Assembly Member Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Budget Committee. He proposed legislation in early December to require schools to reopen if county case counts declined to certain levels, but set the bill aside to negotiate with Newsom.
“We all share a common sense of urgency in reopening schools when it’s safe to do so,” Ting said in a statement. “Negotiations between the Legislature and the administration continue toward that goal.”
Jill Tucker and Dustin Gardiner are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com, dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker, @dustingardiner
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