Transcripts For CSPAN2 House Hearing On COVID-19 Budget Cuts Public Education 20240712

Regulations members are required to leave their cameras on the entire time they are in an official proceeding, even if they step away from the camera. This is an entirely remote hearing and as such the Committee Ruling will be closed and members who choose to sit with their individual devices in the hearing room must wear headphones to avoid feedback echoes and distortion resulting for more than one person in the room on the Software Platform as has been reported by the committees. They also are excited to adhere to social distancing and safe healthcare guidelines including masks, gloves and wiping down their area both before and after their presence in the hearing room. While a roll call is not necessary to establish a quorum, whatever there is an official proceeding with low participation the clerk will call the roll to help make clear who is here at the start of the proceeding. I will ask the clerk to call on the role. Madame clerk. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] pursuant to Committee Rule Opening Statements is limited to the chair and Ranking Member and this allows to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides members and adequate time to answer questions. I now trigger myself for an opening statement. Before i deliver the opening remarks i must first acknowledge the recent protests against Police Misconduct in in favor of Racial Equity and justice across the nation. Times are demanding and we address this countrys centuryold challenges and with todays hearing we can be prepared to answer the call to Racial Equity and justice in education. I want to note this hearing marks the committees first fully remote hearing pursuant to House Resolution 965 and accompanying regulations. To date we will examine how covid19 pandemic has directly impacted his state and local government revenue and how projected state and local government shortfalls to further exacerbate educational inequities rooted in a with the inequities rooted around the country. Nationwide School Closures due to covid19 have an effect on all students, especially in what has been called the summer sli slide, only this year the summer slide is starting a few months earlier than usual. Our countries history of education, educational and equity tells us which students will lose the most during this School Closures and the day the pandemic is exposing and worsening achievement gaps for students of color and disabilities, english language learners and students from low income backgrounds. Normal students are less likely to attend school that have the resources to rapidly establish high quality Distance Learning programs. They are also less likely to have the basic technology such as a personal computer, highspeed Internet Connections and the support at home needed to access Virtual Learning. Data suggested only 60 of low income students are regularly logging into online instruction compared to 90 of high income students. Only 6070 of students of school serving predominantly black and latino students are regularly logging in. It is important to note that states and School Districts [inaudible] entered with crumbling infrastructure, teacher shortage, 77000 fewer School Workers and about 2 million more publicschool students compared to prerecession levels. These cutbacks have not been disputed equal. Our continued reliance on local property taxes to finance Public Education has ensured Public Schools of the highest need are forced to do with less. Unfortunately the achievement gaps exacerbated by covid19 will widen even further. This morning the center on Budget Priorities revealed that states will face a 615 billiondollar revenue shortfall over the next three years due to the pandemic. States are required to balance their budgets every year, Public Education is usually one of the largest expenditures and 40 of many state budgets on average and unless the federal government provides immediate relief it wont be a matter of whether Education Funding will be cut but how deep the cuts will be. Our wealthier districts will fall back on property taxes, low income Public Schools and they will rely heavily on state funding. These districts which are already disproportionately impacted by covid19 will suffer severe cuts in education and other areas at a time when they can least afford it. We have already started to see the consequences of these shortfalls. In a 759,000 Public School employees have lost their jobs since march. In Colorado State legislator just past the budget the cut 1 billion from a School Next Year and in virginia we ended our regular General Assembly session just as the pandemic was starting and then reconvened a few weeks later for the normal veto session where we considered the governors veto and amendments. Revenues have been re forecast during that period of time and we learned a new word, unallocated. That is what happened to the 2 teacher raise and that is what happened in additional counselors in the school and that is what happened with money going into low income students because of the renewed or revised estimates and those expenditures were unallocated and unless they get assistance from the federal government those expenditures will just totally evaporate. Regrettably the department of education has received 31 billion to help fund the emergency Education Funding and that happened in the cares act but regrettably that apartment has mishandled those funds and has presented states and School Districts from quickly assessing those funds, specifically the department issued Equitable Service guidance which has drawn bipartisan criticism and generally widespread confusion to direct our schools to divert funding relief from schools and Public Schools to support wealthier students and private schools. The Department Also announced its intention to use the vast majority of the three and a million and discretionary funds it received in the cares act which was intended to support Public Schools in an effort to respond to the virus to from the Grant Program that is virtually indistinguishable from private school vouchers. Even if the Department Funds in accordance with the law the initial emergency relief package would be insufficient to confront the scale of the problem. Researchers project that reopening schools could talk to the average School District about twoman dollars with large urban districts facing higher costs. The American Federation of teachers projects that schools nationwide would need as much as 116 billion to safely reopen. Recent history foreshadows the consequences of our education and the consequences of our educational system will face if we fail to act. In response to the Great Recession in 2008 congress provided approximately two and a ten bullion dollars in funding for education, more than three times of funding through secured response to the pandemic so far. A Helpful Research shows even that funding was insufficient and did not focus enough on School Districts with the highest need. Consequently, schools across this country experience massive budget cuts. Through thousand School Employees lost their jobs and not surprisingly, children in the poorest communities bore the brunt of these cuts. This lesson from our past makes clear that School Districts urgently need more relief and to that end the house passed the heroes act last month. Ledge state of relief package dedicates nearly a chilean dollars to help states and localities address their budget shortfalls and divert cuts in education. And additionally gives 60 billion to k12 emergency funding the schools can use to cover the cost of cleaning supplies and other expenses required to reopen and purchase Educational Technology like laptops and hotspots and special education, students with disabilities provides training and professional development to teachers and support School Counselors who are helping students with the trauma of this pandemic. This is a pivotal and perilous moment in our fight for equity and education. The pandemic has already translated into major setbacks for students across the country but with all of us wanting to reopen the schools as quickly as possible we cannot put the safety of students, teachers and communities at risk with opening schools without providing the resources they need. When we fail to get the states and local governments and School Districts these resources the impact of this unprecedented challenge of students will be felt long after it is over. I want to thank our witnesses for being with us today and i yield to the distinguished Ranking Member for the purpose of an opening statement. Doctor fox. Thank you, chairman scott. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and i want to particularly recognize as a former teacher the teachers and schools for their herculean work this spring with this standup Distance Learning for students and doing so almost overnight. Educators at all levels should be celebrated for their dedication in responding to the coronavirus crisis. They have gone far beyond their normal response abilities to respond to the needs of their students and communities. Just as our teachers are working to overcome the many challenges of this global pandemic, this nations elected officials must also step up and do the job they were elected to do. This means working from dc and being physically present like our founders intended. That is why Committee Republicans are participating in todays hearing in person from our hearing rooms. The republican and bodied witnesses also are with us in the hearing room. We can and should be at work here in washington and i urge my democrat colleagues to make that a priority moving forward. The coronavirus pandemic is adversely impacted private and Public Schools alike and estimated 94 of public and private schools closed this spring, impacting approximately 97 of the countrys students. All students, including those at traditional Public Schools, schools and private schools have access to the tools they need for lifelong success. That is why Congress Responded swiftly and enacted the cares act which provided more than 30 billion in emergency Education Funding for students, schools, institutions. There has been no evaluation about 30 billion in hardworking taxpayer monies yet here we are with democrats pushing the same taxpayers to go out dole out more of their hard earned money when Many Americans are being forced to tighten their belts. Given the ever evolving threat covid19 poses it would be irresponsible to for us to throw additional funds at the problem that we dont understand fully. Some schools have not yet spent the funds they receive from the cares act despite these facts democrats are demanding we spend more money. Money is not a cureall solution and it is irresponsible to blindly throw more money at the situation. Lets not forget that history has shown more spending does not guarantee better outcomes. In fact, per People Education spending has increased significantly over the years but High School Seniors arent performing any better than they were 30 years ago. Congress must first evaluate the impact of the billions of dollars in federal taxpayer Education Aid already provided through the cares act before rushing to further burden taxpayers with additional spending. No one it is premature and illogical. As we continue to monitor the issues students and schools face it is within this committees jurisdiction to explore opportunities with prolonged lasting reform that will improve the Education System for all families. For example, families experience illustrated the inaccuracy of the status quo for providing all students a foundation they need for lifelong success. I am looking forward to testimonies today about what states and School Districts are learning from the work done this spring and how they will find the educational offerings provided to students and how they are singing to address those instances. Superintendent johnson will talk about the needs for more personalized learning so that students needs can be identified quickly and instruction can be tailored to ensure each student is back on the path for success when school resumes. I hope to hear from others on how they are using these current challenges to question wrong is options. We owe it to her educators and students to examine this carefully and legislate with meaningful reform. I yield back. Thank you, doctor fox. All members who wish to introduce witness statements into the record may do so by summoning them to the Committee Clerk electronically and microsoft word format by monday june 29, 5 00 p. M. I will now introduce our witnesses and Vice President of state fiscal policy at the center for Budget Priorities. He directs the center state policy research overseeing analysis to say policy needs, and help policy choices that improve equity and boost opportunity. [inaudible] she served as a middle School Teacher in science for 31 years and received numerous awards for equity received a bachelors of science degree in Elementary Education from the university of pittsburgh, masters degree in education from Pennsylvania State university and now i yield to the Ranking Member, doctor fox to introduce mr. Johnson. Thank you again, mr. Chairman. Im thrilled to have my home state superintendent with us today. Ive known him for several years and hes done an accredited job in North Carolina. [inaudible] he has been involved in education in a variety of roles, including as a teacher in Charlotte North Carolina and is a member of the County School board. I thank mark for being here today and look forward to his testimony. He has much experience bleeding through our state and it will be helpful for our members. I yield back. Thank you, doctor fox. Our fourth witness, eric gordon, was chief executive officer of the metropolitan School District in 2011 after serving as the academic officer for four years and serves as executive committee for the board of directors so the council of great city schools and he has a bachelors degree in science and in secondary mathematics, education and driver education and a masters degree in education and supervision from Bowling Green state university. We appreciate the witnesses for participating today and forward to your testimony. We remind the witnesses that weve read your written statement and says they will be entered into the record. [inaudible] we ask that you limit your oral presentation to a five minute summary of your written testimony. We remind the witnesses that pursuant to the code it is illegal to knowingly and willfully false your statement or otherwise conceal or cover up material and facts when presenting to congress and during your testimony staff will keep track of your time and use a time to signal and they will use a short time when there is one minute left in your five minutes and a longer time when time is up. Please be attentive to the time and wrap it up when your time is over and if anyone is experiencing technical difficulties during your testimony and later in the hearing you should stay connected on the platform and make sure youre muted with your mute button highlighted and read and use your phone to immediately call the committees director whose number has been provided for you. Let me let all the witnesses make or let all our witnesses make the presentation and move to member questions. When answering a question please or member to unmute your system. Our first recognize doctor leachman for five minutes. Chairman scott, Ranking Member fox and distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I am michael leachman, Vice President for state fiscal policy, nonpartisan research and policy institute. The cova 19 pandemic has created an extraordinary unanticipated state fiscal crisis. States rely on sales and income taxes for 70 of the tax revenue and with so many businesses closed in so many people laid off these revenues have fallen off the cable. Based on history and the Economic Projections from the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve we project total state shortfalls of 615 billion over the next three state fiscal years. It is hard to exaggerate the magnitude of this crisis and the shortfall states face on the upcoming fiscal year alone far exceeding even the worst year of the Great Recession of a decade ago. Federal aid provided so far, while helpful, is much too small to allow states to avoid laying off teachers and other workers and taking other steps that would worsen the recession and delay recovery. States can use this aid to close roughly 100 billion of their budget gaps, even with that age and with all of the states Rainy Day Funds, they would still fall some 440 billion short. These estimates do not include states added costs due directly to the cove and 19 virus. School districts, for exam, face substantial unanticipated costs including cost for Distance Learning and expanded learning time to offset the learning loss caused by School Closures. Further, our shortfall estimates are for states only good as you know, schools also depend heavily on revenue raised by School Districts on other local Government Entities and their revenues are falling too. Unless states and School Districts receive much more in federal aid they will lay off more and more teachers and other workers and other ways that will further weaken the economy and delayed the recovery. When states last faced a budget crisis in the Great Recession a decade ago emergency federal aid closed only about one quarter of state budget shortfalls and School Districts have never recovered from the layoffs they imposed back then. When covid19 hit earlier this year schools employed 77000 fewer teachers and other workers than they did before the Great Recession took hold, even though they were teaching 1. 5 million more children. These funding cuts and layoffs hurt our kids and that hurts our future. They drove down test scores and College Attendance rates and the impact was particularly damaging for low income students and students of color adding to the substantial structural barriers these children must overcome. Federal aid so far includes just 13 billion in direct aid for k12 schools. Thats far too little to meet the extraordinary physical challenges that schools face. The roughly 60 billion in additional direct aid for schools in the heroes act is a significant step in the right direction but on its own it is not enough. States and localities could use other forms of aid in the act to protect schools but it is not certain they will and as such we would support a significant increase in the amount of direct aid for schools in the final package. Besides aid for schools states will need other forms of physical relief to avoid harmful layoffs, other cuts and increases. Raising the federal medicaid rate goes under the heroes act is a particular effective form of broad state Fiscal Relief and can be dealt with quickly and by providing direct savings to states raising the matching rate freeze up funds that they cant reallocate to protect schools and other fundamental public services. Inadequate aid package also wi will. [inaudible conversations] states and localities should have the flexibility to use these grants to make up for revenues lost during the pandemic. That revenue loss is the primary threat to school funding. Finally, a way to deliver aid through economic downturns is through permanent automatic stabilizers that trigger based on Economic Indicators that adjusted depending on the state of the economy, ending sooner the economy rubber covers quickly but remaining in place as long as it is needed if the recovery is unexpectedly slow. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify and i am happy to take questions when the time is time. Thank you. You have to unmute. Thank you, chairman scott, Ranking Member fox and members of the committee. My name is Becky Pringle and i am a Science Teacher from pennsylvania and Vice President of the National Education association. As any i am honored to represent more than 3 million teachers, Education Support professionals and specialized staff who share the belief that all students in our Public Schools, no matter where they live or their race or ethnicity or Family Income should have an education that prepares them to live into their brilliance. That is our fight and it is a privilege to wage it. The covid19 pandemic has deepened the disparities that already existed and prompted budget cuts that will devastate students, especially in black and brown, native and Rural Communities. Millions of students who lack access or connected devices were faced with this Digital Divide that denies them the opportunity to access remote instruction so they can continue their learning at home. I met with educators in North Carolina and they talk to me about starting the school year knowing they had to not only determine whether students were academically but they worried about meeting the emotional needs of their students, who they knew were suffering from anxiety and fear because of uncertainty and tragic losses. Are able to hew hughes trauma informed practices as they engage. That means we need enough teachers and educators to nurture every student. The bottom line is the districts must be more lossless especially if we are to open safely by providing protective equipment for students and staff and retrofitting classes and other spaces for social distancing. This task is more difficult because the School Buildings on average are more than 40yearsold. The rebuild americas schools act has many infrastructure needs but much more must be done. No doubt these investments will be a major challenge should end the districts that never recovered from the session. Cut back by 300,000 already 500,000 Public Education jobs have been launched because of this pandemic. And according to the analysis of nearly 2 million educators could lose their jobs over the three years. This would be devastating for students in the schools that are already under resourced. They need to return to Public Schools with resources to help them recover and thrive. The day need the funding to we opened schools in the right way. Thats why they support the heroes act because it concludes 90900 billions in debt relief fr the state and local governments and 900 billion individual revenue for education. We call on Mitch Mcconnell in the senate to demonstrate they care about the education of all students. Schools are already cramming for the upcoming year and they need that funding now. My 30 years of experience helps me to believe we can finally provide resources with access and opportunity. Members are an optimistic bunch and its our job requirement we know we can address the challenges not only of covid19, but we can and must address the equity challenges. We stand ready with our members and institutions to bring about a new day. Thank you. Good afternoon, germans thought, Ranking Member and members of the committee. State superintendent mark johnson and its my privilege to serve educators. Thank you for the opportunity for the hearing today and thank you all for your swift bipartisan efforts to enact the chairs act and used taxpayer dollars to support the citizens, communities and schools during this unprecedented pandemic. Together we have faced the unbelievable challenges of covid19. Its part of our health, economy, Stephens Education and even our way of life. Students, educators, parents and caretakers across North Carolina and the nation ha have made difficult sacrifices to come from this crisis and its a sean we have the resilience to overcome it. Making sure that the services continue, which means keeping Services Available no matter the obstacle. Keeping cafeterias open for grab and go vocations and delivering meals using schoolbuses and the mail. They have served over 30 million meals during this crisis. Theyvthey also led the switch practically overnight. North carolina is a leader in the education strategy that even then no state was ready for the switch from 0 to 100 over the weekend. Teachers and School Leaders connected where they could an assignment for Berkeley School bus over the phone and even through the United States postal service. Now we are able to switch from beginning reactive we should all be focused not just coming back strong but coming out of the pandemic stronger. Stronger. Thank you for helping the students in North Carolina with federal taxpayer funds. We wont use these to protect the health and safety and use the funds to help innovate to help every child work hard in school and reach their American Dreams for the example investing in technology for curriculum options and professional development for teachers even before this moment in history North Carolina was making a monumental shift in education to empower teachers with the tools that support personalized learning for all students. Now this innovation is more important than ever. We need to help all students catch up that we dont have to do that with a onesizefitsall strategy. The curriculum options help more easily meet their abilities and help the students catch up at your own pace. Make no mistake teachers have been working hard for decades individualized educational pursuits and the assistant what we have endured for the past months. The technology we are pushing for North Carolina will be another tool for teachers to help students. Our youngest can use this technology to catch up on their reading skills and our older students can use the technology to discover the pathways to success that they decide to work for them, whether it is a high valued credential military service or a degree from a Community College or institution. The challenges facing us next school year are enormous but we also must use this moment to reach every single student with resources and strategies that help them work hard in school and succeed. In North Carolina we have a state test we see that our state has aired a week grow strong and the strong growth great. The nation is rising above the unprecedented challenges. We are strong. Lets growth great. Thank you thank you. Mr. Gordon. Chairman scott, Ranking Members of the education and labor committee. I am the chief executive officer of the cleveland district in Cleveland Ohio and im also proud to serve as the cochair of the coalition and as the chair r of the council of the city schools. The cleveland metropolitan School District is the second largest in ohio with an enrollment of nearly 30,000 students. With over 42 of the children living below the poverty line in cleveland has the highest of any major city in the country with the Median Household Income of over 26,000 cleveland residents also lack the basic necessities considered essential to todays america. The School Community is 86 of children of color, over 17 of the students are english language learners in nearly a quarter of the students identify for special education. Nearly 5 of the students over 1900 students are homeless on any given day. Despite these and other inequities, weve gone from beginquotes performing School District in ohio to becoming one of the fastest improving School Districts. March 13, we ordered the Necessary Clothing of ohio schools to the Public Health emergency. This had a Significant Impact on the students across ohio. While those in ohio focused on switching from classroom to clae instruction, the reality is more than a 40 of the family had no reliable access to highSpeed Internet in their homes is 68 had no device other than a smart phone to access the internet. We also established hotlines and other content that could be accessed by cell phone like posting lessons, grade level practices along with supplemental packages to support students with disabilities and english language learners and to support social and emotional health. We created broadcasts and established a hotline for those experiencing feelings of isolation were signs of neglect. Over the shutdown period, we we close to spending across the district to direct all for the purchase and distribution with a oneyear subscription to the internet and over 16,000 devices those devices and hot spots that are now in place and wil it wilo be three main distributed in sure my families are able to apply for unemployment and apply for jobs and Access Medical care and other support. The inequities my family faced during the Public Health emergency existed in cleveland and communities across the country for decades and it is important to note that these are most acute of those of color. Addressing these needs and preparing to return to school to address nine weeks of learning and to create a more fair, just and good system of personalized learning they are facing the threat of moving up to 127 million to the state and local revenue in the year ahead. That is nearly 25 of my districts in the updating budget. Worst Case Scenario if this were to occur id have no choice but to make deep devastating cuts to my district this winter and implement the cuts the second semester of the school year. I urge congress to provide the necessary resources to keep the nations School Districts intact during the crisis that arose from the Public Health emergency. While this includes resources contemplated in the act and future stimulus stabilization act also included Additional Resources in the years ahead to ensure Adequate Funding for americas most Vulnerable Children including title i aid for disadvantaged and atrisk youth and those that have been victims othe victims of the elee iii for immigrant children, part b. For students with learning disabilities and the act are homeless and foster youth. As the School Districts but mine worked to recover the learning time that is lost from the most fragile among the youth chairman scott, Ranking Member and members of the education labor committee, on behalf of the 38,000 in the cleveland metropolitan School District that ive had the privilege of serving along with 192,000 in the coalition and 8. 2 million thank you for letting me be with you today. Thank you. I think all of the business for youthis is foryour testimonl begin the questions. I will go last and start with the gentle lady from california, ms. Davis. Thank you very much mr. Chairman and mrs. I know all of you feel so strongly about what we are about to face here. It will be as great a crisis the schools have experienced and that the numbers show that. We need to take our own test. Is it possible for us to open schools if they cannot avoid personnel cuts, if we cannot avoid layoffs of teachers is it possible for us to open schools if we cannot compensate obviously particularly in reading and math and is it possible for us to open schools if we cannot keep our students safe . If we are struggling with answering those questions, then we have a very difficult decision to make as you all have expressed the increased costs they are going to be seeing range somewhere i think 20 at least a surgery for california and san diego. So the question is if that is true and we are not able to reach a level where they are comfortable with any of the major issues, what do we do and where is it that we are going to be able to at least reach out and appropriate level of service if we cant do that. Perhaps mr. Gordon, you were just speaking, where do you go from there, and i want you to address as you have done the loss particularly for the most vulnerable students. If we cannot provide the basics for each and every student in the school, how are we going to be able to do that and does that mean having more students coming into school in those areas longer time in school, what do you think in cleveland clicks thank you to chairman and the congresswoman for the question. As i provided in my written testimony, i think that this is both a crisis they face to reinvent the system in the delivery of learning and much like my colleague mr. Johnson, im an advocatiam an advocate oa very much personalized learning that is driven by the mastery of content and not simply in ohio we are not likely going to be able to bring all children back at exactly the same time for the whole school day because of the very strict Public Health guidance we have seen so far. So this means youre going to have to have multiple scenarios we can bring back release with classes and half or try to shift monday tuesday class and thursday friday. Im challenging my team to ask the question who are the children and student of the stuh facilities for english language learners, and then who can be more selfsufficient and the product of high quality learning environment that can be partially remote that does require keeping the personnel in check and if i have to sustain a quarter of my budget cut that would necessarily result in huge layoffs likely have explained in 2010 will be closed 23 School Buildings and laid off 700 teachers all in a single moment. We will be a high quality learning system dependent. Thank you. I believe my time is up. Thank you. Doctor fox, do you want to go now . I pulled ahead and ask my questions now. The Ranking Members recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. You spoke in your testimony about the money they spend. What is the status of the care act in North Carolina . As you know it came through multiple sources of the 95 million theres been no decision yet by the governor on how that will support education. The schools that will receive about 400 million, the North Carolina state board of education decided to hold back the maximum amount, to address the issues across North Carolina but that hasnt been determined yet what the money would be used for. The 350 million that have been left after that all of that has been done into the School Districts havent started drilling down on that money yet and of course that is the largest sum that went to the North Carolina General Assembly gave dedicated 230 million authors of the funds to address the Summer Learning and help with connectivity and purchases began we have not spent that money. There was also on top of that at the very beginning of the crisis 50 million from the state funds that was repurposed from the School Districts to address the reactive measures of the crisis and we have not yet spent all of those funds yet either. So we are in a very proactive phase with the schools in North Carolina. Thank you mr. Superintendent. Turning down federal taxpayer funding however in light of the fact the overwhelming evidence then spent is now to spend billions more in taxpayer funds. What steps do you think are needed and what factors should the congress consider before determining if another round is needed thank you, representative fox. I would say as a citizen and educator that its important for congress to balance the fact that theres a lot of data being taken out a. I would encourage congress to work with the states chief officers. In North Carolina, we are still waiting on what the plan will be for the reentry to school. The governor sent out a plan that we havent made a Firm Decision on whether or not we will havwill have the kids backn school or Remote Learning. The metrics are not going in the right direction. Also, we dont have the state budget if so why do we are concerned about the budget cuts like everyone else, we do not know exactly what those details will be just yet. And as mentioned earlier we are being very proactive. We are not being reactive with more funding they would encourage congress to see where that money is spent as i discussed in my testimony with the health and safety of students but also using this moment in opportunity to transform how we meet every student at their ability level and help them proceed and excel at their own pace. Thank you. Theres been concern expressed by some about the federal department of education in the Equitable Service profession without getting into the weeds of the debate, do you think each Education Sector traditional Public Schools, Charter Schools and private schools deserve support and why . The short answer would be yes this is an unprecedented crisis is affecting everyone. People who lost their jobs and needed help paying bills they got the stimulus check but also people that are retired and they got a stimulus check as well. I think that its Important Congress wants to help every citizen. Thats what they do, not to get into the weeds of the debate, but it is their job to be in charge of the purse strings, and i encourage the General Assembly to be clear on their intense and make sure they protect what they want the funding to go and not to delegate too much power to the administrative branches. Thank you. Im going to end with a comment i am a student of the constitution, and i have read many times the word education in their. We found that as a reason and responsibility of the federal government. Educators appreciate any funding that comes from it but we also appreciate not putting him out of Strings Attached. We appreciate the funding that is in the constitution in North Carolina, but you are correct i do not believe that it is in the constitution for the United States. We appreciate the support. Thank you. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you mr. Chairman. It is real and severe and it isnt a question of blowing money or the functions being the cool of the day but as we move forward talking about the impact and thus support that is needed at the state level and in particular the Public Schools, then we recognize there is a legacy and preexisting conditions in Public Education and they revolve around inequity and issues like the manifestations of those disabilities and english learners, potential divide, classifies and the list goes on. The pandemic has exposed the. The role of the government is twofold. It is to supplement so that they issued the inequity that are being agreed as we talk and dont become the permanent legacy in the efforts to try to do something about it. So that is a priority for this committee. One of the things all states do differently not all are proponents of education in terms of the administrations hope given a come and given the fact that the ten states before regardless if the wait and see approach and the urgency for that, im trying to get your comment on that question. Thank you, congressman. This is very urgent. The states already are starting to cut their education budgets. In georgia, the governor and legislative leadership has already called for substantial cuts across the board for the upcoming fiscal year which starts july 1 in just a couple of weeks. In ohio the governor has asked for agencies to submit a 20 cut budgets and already implemented the cubs for the fiscal year. States and localities already furloughed were laid off about 1. 5 million workers and with the fiscal year beginning very soon states will be making decisions for the other education workers being laid off. Its never a good time but when the economy is weak, the last thing we want is more layoffs of the top states if not the top state for the uptick as you mentioned, that isnt included in the overall to be held harmless in the school year. Any response to that . That is an excellent point. The revenue the state are experiencing is unprecedented. It is an extraordinary fiscal crisis. And then on top of that, we have schools having to deal with substantial new costs to try to open safely. Thank you. I yield back the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson. Veteran and republican leader we appreciate this move to getting back to work and performing the duties and responsibilities. They dont stop because of any pandemic were crisis. Thanks to the members of the panel and thank you for having time today to join us in the hearing. The spread is causing significant disruptions across the country. An estimated 124,000 public and private schools closed this spring including 3,000 in my home state of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. Due to this pandemic the Congress Responded swiftly and enacted at the cares act that delivered 13 billion directly to the states and School Districts. [inaudible] for the School District is a response to the coronavirus and represents the congressional districts govern 14 counties nearly 25 of the planned mass anland mass andduring the outbrr one issue i heard in the rural districts is the lack of broadband and technology access. Theyve been creative on how they address the connectivity issues like setting up driveby wifi hotspots in School Parking lot and libraries into different places. Its absolutely long overdue. According to the census data 15 of the households with schoolage children do not have high Speed Internet connection quite frankly though it is even larger. The numbers muc number is much r because i worked with all of my School Districts throughout this time. You touched briefly on this. Is North Carolina experiencing similar issues with Broadband Technology and how are the School District is addressing the problem . Every state is facing the same issue right now including North Carolina. We are actually the first in the nation to connect every single classroom to the highSpeed Internet classroom and its a truly amazing accomplishment for the Education System. That doesnt help when the students in all North Carolina or the students who dont have that broadband connection. We immediately addressed this by making sure that we put money into the hot spot devices and innovation that will help give wireless internet to the communities and they also use school buses to get assignments, phone, mail but this is always something we would appreciate the congress very much helping with and looking at how do we make sure that we innovate and get that Broadband Access to every student because we hope to be back in school in North Carolina but there is the chance that we will be back in Remote Learning like other states. I would comment briefly and then a quick question. So appreciative of what they have done providing flexibility in the program and participating in the teamwork and collaboration my final question for you if i talk with my School Districts as late as this morning on the advisory most of the schools we are looking at for the transportation costs if theres implications given for social distancing especially in rural areas that have a tremendous amount of transportation, North Carolina is a lot like pennsylvania. It includes thoughts on what you are anticipating in the transportation challenges . It will absolutely be a challenge. Our governor sent out three different plans and they hope to bwe hope tobe under the plan alo get as many back but as long as we are required for the social distancing on the school buses, we will be in the same situati situation. More help when it comes to getting the buses on the road and as has been mentioned for difficult reality of some students stay at home one day while other students go to school and they switch. But we know that is going to be a huge challenge for the communities as well. Thank you mr. Chairman and the witnesses. Its extremely urgent the board of education voted to nominate for the positions in the system in terms of the workforce connecticut has will be distributed the funding and that wasnt enough. I know theres a lot of work being done to plan for that. Isnt it where we should be headed to reduce class size and accommodate social distancing congressman courtney i got the chance to talk with quite a few educators there and you are absolutely correct way no other School Districts like the one you talked about will have to lay off hundreds and hundreds of educators. Teachers, support staff, bus drivers we know we cannot open our schools baseless without the funds. So imagine we are sending our kids back to school and saying we want them to go back safely. But they are cutting over 500,000 education jobs and more are coming to. It is educational jobs, services to the students. Students with special needs in particular need of that additional assistance so for us to think we are going to send our students back to School Safely and provided them a quality education that we believe they all deserve, we know that cannot happen. So, we need the senate to ask right now i am so glad to hear you talk about it saying we are already putting that money to good use. We are starting to plan for the next year before they even leave school. So they are already making plans. If we know we are going to aim to have the students come back to School Safely we have to change a lot of things. So we are having these conversations right now. If we dont know the amount of money we are going to get to open the School Safely, if we dont know the changes we are going to have to make or how we are going to provide them for the students and educators, then we cannot do tha the kind of planning that is absolutely necessary to have what they need and deserve. The opening of schools is happening right now in terms of the bidding. Real quick the act provided state assistance and targeted to the communities of 50,000 or less which kind of get pushed to the end of the buffet line so its those communities in particular because they have no commercial tax base in most instances they need to get this assistance sooner rather than later isnt that correct . Absolutely. They depend on sales tax so the revenues have fallen off the table but they depend heavily on the sales taxes as well and of course they have the same similar kind of effect on that regard so i share your concern and those communities as well. Mr. Schoen and this morning we had the question that shows the beginning of the ripple effect. With that i will yield back. Thank you. The gentleman from michigan. Thank you mr. Chair. Just a couple of questions because they are the equivalent of what everybody else on both sides we are all concerned about the same things. I was in grad school it is the length of the summer and intends terms of the student performance and essentially across most of the country. How are you able to maintain or try to understand the quality of thought and number two its getting broadly into the homes getting a to have access but i know that he appreciates the presentation on cleveland but has ample broadband but its getting the device in the home where people can have delivery. As you go forward there will not be broadband at that exact time how will you manage that going forward. I would be interested in your perspective. Ivi will be brief to allow e for my colleague. It was challenging. Teachers have been amazing at stepping up and making sure they are doing everything they can for their students. My daughter is a first grader so we were very fortunate. They had broadband for the families that were wellconnected and that doesnt even start for those that were not connected and didnt have the device. Very challenging. Theyve done an amazing job. Its making sure that when we come back to school in the fall whatever that is, we will be doing some diagnostic assessments to see how much learning they did lose and meet them at their ability levels. When it comes to broadband, that is a challenge that every state and nation should take on and yes there are bandaids of hotspots in wireless internet on school buses and driving out to North Carolina thats helping, but its still very difficult so we would encourage any thoughts on that and i know the concern for many across the nation. How you are managing broadband going into the fold. Thank you for the question. Because we surveyed the educators int and the quality ws directly related to whether they had the reliable internet in their home. Our students told us that those that have routine access were more confident they could complete the work and they were less board and have happier. They were also able to share those that didnt have those despite what weve written in the testimony and giving the same learning experience. We sold again in the written testimony i else find this we are working over the next year to create a nonprofit to deliver reliable internet to every family as the district is going to be the customer and so we can get around other things that prevent families from accessing it. Like my colleague, we are going to assess where the students are and to be much more personalized and get away from the constraints as opposed. Appreciate it very much. I yield back. The gentle lady from ohio. The gentleman [inaudible] thank you very much for holding the hearing and to the witness witnesses. The Government Accountability office recently released a report on the state of Public Schools. Unfortunately it challenges maintaining the system and the conditions of the facilities is a matter that will be examined and i will be leaving there later this month in my capacity as the chairman of the early secondary education. So, mr. Gordon, if i may commit even the state of ohio funded how confident do you feel about the students in the coming years . Thank you to the chairman for that question. They are in the midst of a reconstruction project here at a city thats been going on for 20 years because in ohio theyve been built in the 60s and 70s and that isnt maintained because of the budget constraints. They likely need to be diverted to other priorities into the School Construction could be halted in the immediate future. I found myself advocating that it be used at the extent to. I dont mean to cut you off but in the area [inaudible] those would be very helpful across the country. I have other questions ive also for the record i will continue asking other questions. You said some had Remote Learning while others used [inaudible] can you describe the income gap and those with economic challenges and students within the educational experience . My community is 100 speed to over a quarter of the students because there is a crisis and because of the lack of resources and those with disabilities. So stupid but already face gaps if one of the most segregated in the country are only going to magnify and when we compare them with the Online Learning was the experience was far more [inaudible] almost 5 million a [inaudible] depending on whether they choose to follow the guidance from the department. Of the 24 million, weve already had 15 million from the planned expenses and non Additional Support staff have been further also a i appreciate the opportunity to talk about these topics. The we march into this thing [inaudible] there is no replacement for it and that has been magnified in this crisis for the Remote Learning we know that there will be learning themselves because as hard as the teachers tried they couldnt get through as much a [inaudible] he was speaking but you couldnt hear him. Ive asked indulgence because he needs to step out after. This is the reason we ought to be in this room and not do these things remotely. His face went out briefly. Anybody else, can you knock your head if you can see him . Some see him and some do not. Hes right in the middle of the screen. I am able to see them, mr. Chair. A if he is in a crunch [inaudible] have you completed your questions, mr. Burns . We cant hear him. Im not suggesting anything [inaudible] i think i would be helpful. The last comment i want to make is if we can make Virtual Education work we only need one teacher for every subject and we have a great teacher for everybody in america but we know that isnt enough. Weve got to get these kids back in school this fall. I know what is up to the governors. It isnt something we get to control. But if we think we can substitute with Virtual Education, the coffee these kids get when they are in school with their teacher, we are kidding ourselves. And with that i would yield back. Thank you mr. Chairman for this. If ms. Wilson is willing to be deter, we would be very grateful. We recognize ms. Wilson at this point. Go ahead. Thank you, ms. Wilson. And provide the necessary funding for schools. That cares act created the Education Stabilization Fund to the coronavirus more specifically it states that local educational agencies may use funding for purchasing Educational Technology includes a on including hardware and software. Enable the fcc and department of education promoting the use of 16 billion for the use of Remote Learning. Mr. Johnson challenges our lack of Broadband Access as cochair of the 5g caucus connecting broadband is something of interest to me. Three questions i want you to discuss, how has your state utilized cares act resources to promote distancelearning . Second, do you have best practices to share to utilize technology in the schools . And third, are there any additional actions you think congress should consider to further promote connectivity between students in the classroom . Thank you. I will start again with urging congress to look at the need for Broadband Access across the nation that all states are facing. We have dedicated a lot of cares act funding with the idea of addressing the connectivity divide. There is a large so im going to the North Carolina General Assembly providing tens of millions of dollars for devices but also 70 million of those funds to address Summer Learning loss and i have encourage the local superintendent if we are in a place they cannot come back in during the summer then we use that money to buy High Quality Professional Development for teachers to help address the Summer Learning loss remotely and finally we are getting many out from that cares act going to the local districts that many as 400 million in North Carolina we just finished the application process for districts and overwhelmingly districts are telling us they want to buy that to ensure connectivity for students. There has been a lot of discussion today how the federal government needs to add assistance on top of the money allocated in the cares act. While there may be significant needs for greater assistance , we have to look into that are there ways they can assist states and School Districts and other ways . Flexibilitys in federal law . Yes. Thank you you heard a lot today about personalized learning to use these tools to empower teachers to do what they have been doing many years individualizing education for students in a practical and easier to use way by using technology now getting some flexibility from the accountability metrics we still have what we need to ensure students are learning and endoftheyear testing. Looking at program by the Us Department of education let me put that into overdrive to give accountability metrics. Thank you to the representative wilson for her help in allowing me the opportunity to ask questions. I yield back. Ms. Wilson. Thank you. I am a strong advocate for Public Schools and if our district already has enough to worry about that see divorce misguided Equitable Service will direct Critical Resources away from disadvantaged students are schools of high concentration from low income families and wealthy and private now in the midst of a pandemic and the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression now desperately needed emergency funding all while ignoring the intent of congress and the statutory requirements of the cares act. I have a question. Can you speak to your concerns of the outcome for black students and those with disabilities with the emotional and Health Outcomes to become the nation of the covid19 pandemic and the possibility of a gaping hole in state education budgets for several years . First of all i want to say thank you for your comments about secretary divorce ignoring the guidance around everything succeeds act we know the money was to go to Public Schools to try and use that for vouchers and private is unacceptable. Thank you for in the cares ac act, actually seeking to make sure that is limited what she is trying to do is limited with the intent of that act. Thank you. Absolutely are students of color already for all add a disadvantage because of the an equitable system that they have found throughout the years have not provided the resources and the support they need to learn we know this pandemic just like any other crisis always impacts them the most and first. Thats why we are coming together all over the country to do everything we can to push the senate to concur with the actions of the house and provide additional funding our schools need because we absolutely no our students with special needs as well as black and brown students need to add additional assistance that equitable funding we already heard they are suffering from poor air quality that will predispose them to getting sick already. We need that additional funding to improve the conditions in our schools to make sure they have access to highquality education we need that additional funding to be sure they have the resources and support especially now in congresswoman i cannot thank you enough for raising of the emotional challenges about going back to school. Not only the covid19 that the institutional racism in this country our black and brown students are suffering and they are watching these inequities all over this country. Show up in both pandemics. We absolutely need to make sure we have counselors to address their emotional needs when they come back to school. Thank you. Is my time up . I yield back. You have one minute left. Can you explain why its important for state leaders to ensure how the high poverty School Districts with the budget cuts and can we explain how School Budgets when these decisions are made or how that would benefit the with that support they can rely on. Excellent questions congressman. Children of color already face in aureus one enormous barriers to success cutting funding to the under resourced schools were just increase the already very significant barriers talk about laying off teachers counselors librarians, extracurricular opportunities and maintenance that needs to be done because of the barriers placed in front of those children already these cuts are particularly damaging. And then to your question im sorry can you remind me . How do we guide the districts to know that this money is coming so they can address the budget crisis. Thank you. They want to know whats federal support they can rely on as early as possible considering the timelines to set a budget it is important. Thank you. Almost all states start their fiscal year july 1st they are required to balance their budgets. They need to know soon how much federal aid they will get because they have to write those budgets and so they will be making decisions about cutting funding resulting in layoffs and other crucial very damaging school cuts unless they get substantial federal aid. They need to know if thats coming so they can avoid making those harmful cuts. I yield back. That time was previously reserved for mr. Walberg we go back to regular order and the young lady from ohio has returned. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. Forgive me i had to take a call that people think we can do unless we are in washington. [laughter] welcome to all of our Witnesses Today and also Ceo Eric Gordon from the School District. Mr. Gordon come in your testimony you talk about schools across the country and how desperately we need funding but in your written testimony you say 40 percent of families in cleveland have no reliable access. What Additional Resources are needed for Remote Learning to be successful . Great to see you congresswoman. Thank you for the question. We estimate that just for cleveland to be connected alone is 40 million to get the infrastructure in place that would connect those that serve in the district and that estimate was created through a partnership the way we deliver the infrastructure here in the city. You also mentioned the personal learning so can you briefly tell me what that entails . Over the past decade we have tried to test and push against the system we change calendars to yearround and longer days and move learning to museums and fortune 500 companies, hospitals, we have partnered with any number of nonprofit groups mentor ships, student organize learning and remote content and can be used in a learning management platform. So what we seek to do is the mastery of the content is the goal and the time as one of the resources having 180 days dictate and using a much more flexible environment of all the different resources so students move at the pace they are able. This would allow us every teacher having 25 children some are board because they could be moving faster working independent and others could benefit from a Small Group Setting with their teacher then we could personalize for those who are fire on far behind are prepared to excel and keep moving. In your written testimony you say excellent k12 education for people of color is vital. I could not agree with you more that is why we introduced the act and thats for school diversity. And with those historical barriers to education of students of color . For raising this important issue its crucial we all understand the connection between historical racism and ongoing forms of discrimination and bias on the opportunities available to families and the communities where the schools are located. Without understanding that history its difficult to advise policy to create opportunities and the kind of educational system that all of our children need. Doing so would benefit all of us because having all of those kids reach their full potential and overcoming thes barriers would benefit the economy to make our community stronger. Thank you so much and thank you for testifying. And the point i heard earlier about education theres a lot of the constitution they dont follow. I yield back. Can you hear me . I mean to beat a dead horse but i know next week we will be here next week thursday and friday i miss not being with my democratic colleagues i like to be bipartisan i wish i could talk to democrats to the left but i cant so i wish we the schedule for next wednesday or thursday or friday when some of us are out here. Second, as far as mr. Gordon is concerned, he is very critical of schools that are 40 years old or older. The School District i went to today, not at the time that all schools are over 40 years and it is a very well respected School Everything it is important to have good teachers and good parents and how old the bricks and mortar are are secondary. I will ask mr. Gordon who is complaining come i try to do research compared to the state of ohio as a whole how much do you spend for people . We spent about 11000 per pupil. How is that compared to ohio as a whole . I dont know the state average it is widely varied. A neighboring School District charges 22000 per child. Im under the impression you are getting more than the average thats not true . It is likely true. Yes. One of the things i was thinking about or the lessons over the last few weeks from the tragedy of george floyd is at this Horrible Police officer should have been removed earlier and around the country you are looking at this situation and maybe sometimes realizing weve done too much to protect bad police officers. I care for my School Superintendents scott walker change the rules in wisconsin thats a big problem for them as well sometimes trying to protect bad teachers i know some of the unions are recognizing they are protecting bad policeman do you regret your stance of protecting too many bad teachers . Unions dont protect bad teachers they are there to ensure that employees rules are followed and that we have the opportunity and members of the and eea Whose Mission with the commerce of Public Education and it is our union to education and justice and to diversify it is our union. And to make sure students and schools get the resources they need and deserve. I guess i got my answer i will emphasize teachers are important and a bad second grade teachers particularly harmful from one that comes from a difficult background but in any event we will switch to mr. Johnson. Answering questions before about internet and rural areas and how you can provide Broadband Access and how far along you are in the process. We are able to do that quickly with hotspots and mobile devices we are closing that gap as quickly as possible through the School Building but we are still assessing what that gap is to close that along with the General Assembly. But talking at home percentagewise how many kids at home have Broadband Access do you think . Percentagewise, we are looking at about by devices a few hundred thousand would have to get out to students we are better along and not where we want to be. Where were you today and five years ago . I have to get that specific information to you were getting hotspots now we are better than we were just three months ago. You made progress that quickly. Yes. We will get you that progress as the hotspots get out this is an issue many states are facing. I yield back the rest of my time. Thank you to the gentleman from wisconsin and i can assure you we are in session any Committee Proceedings will be in person and not virtual so we will follow through on your suggestion. Next the gentle lady from oregon. The gentle man from california. My first question is directed towards mr. Johnson as a strong proponent of Charter Schools and School Choice do you believe that Charter School should be known as Public Schools . Should they claim that moniker . Yes. In North Carolina they are Public Schools. That comes out of the same Public School funding. I would like to highlight a New York Times article about Charter Schools that Charter Schools and private schools are eligible for ppp funds to the cares act they are also eligible for the Education Stabilization Fund the ability for the schools to tap into the ppe funds disadvantages traditional Public School should they be allowed to tap into ppe funds while getting the stabilization funds . The United States congress and the administration should help a Broad Spectrum as possible. Not personally aware of Charter Schools in North Carolina applying for the ppe funds that is something i would need to look into more with my colleagues. My understanding are the schools, Charter Schools with a healthy Balance Sheet funded by mr. Bloomberg who donated to your campaign, they what do you think about this . That is a determination for congress and the treasury department. In North Carolina you have Charter School struggling just as much as other Public Schools when it comes to the funding issue. They have to find resources for their own buildings, their own transportation and i have been a very strong advocate for Charter Schools but also accountability. If one is not doing well we went to make sure that it provides and there are definitely excellent examples of Charter Schools in North Carolina. I am reclaiming my time. My concern is the administration is refusing to disclose who is receiving ppe funds. But some groups have discovered 50 million have gone to Charter School ppe program. Thats why i asked if you regard as Public Schools because receiving money from ppe program they receive it with a Nonprofit Organization and Public School specifically are not allowed to receive ppe funds. Do you think the administration should disclose who the recipients are so we can understand which Charter Schools have been receiving ppe funds including those that have a very healthy Balance Sheet . I would support transparency. You would call upon the Trump Administration to disclose Charter Schools had been receiving the funds in addition . I would not go so far to make that grandiose statement we are here to talk about those schools and it is out of my expertise but i do agree transparency and everything is very important. I thank you for that. We are talking about funding the Public Schools but my concern currently and with that stabilization and under the cares act and with the nonPublic Schools and they are are able. Public schools arent or not to take advantage of this momen moment. I yield back. On an incredibly important subject we had been working very closely with our teachers and superintendent and parents to get their feedback in real time in my district is one of the most rural districts east of the Mississippi River and there are some School Districts for up to 50 percent of the students do not have access to broadband. So my a colleague sentiments to close the Digital Divide i encourage those with special needs to have been woefully underserved during the crisis what are the biggest lessons you have learned because we have learned a lot we are we are not meeting their needs a have completely fallen out of context with the School System and those who are very handson parents are those caregivers to navigate that technology what air your biggest lessons with a focus on rural students. Thank you for that question. And to help students thrive. As a father of a young daughter even with connectivity it is still a struggle for parents having to step in and parents who are educators themselves. And then educating and thats one of the biggest challenges. And that glaring issue of the lack of connectivity and then to connect all students and then going into the professional Development Opportunity for teachers to support them and the digital option so that when the students come back we can do an assessment on where they are in the ability level and all this technology to help them meet them where they are at their pace and its not the educators fault with the society we are now in a digital age and to use this moment to transform the education that is a heavy lift and will take support from states and School Districts. I want to thank the teachers and educators in my district they have been tremendous to rise to this challenge in the community we cannot be more proud and with that i yield bac back. The gentle lady from North Carolina. Let me think all the Witnesses Today for your testimony and your support of children and a shout out to my district in greensboro. Thank you for joining the committee to have the opportunity with us lol carolinians i was on the School Board Many years ago and a fortyyear retired teacher professor. But my question is very state specific i would appreciate because were on a short time limit we both know the commitment the state made to Public Education and those with rampant School Closing not one due to the depression but since the depression of 2008 today North Carolina is only one of seven states were state investment has not reached 32009 levels. And given the these facts that they receive a sound basic education with those shortfalls in revenue. It is a pleasure to see you. Thank you for your question specifically. And appreciate that service. There are multiple plans in place. Working with the North Carolina General Assembly to protect her education budget is much as possible. That plus the federal believe that congress was able and quite frankly getting into the weeds a little bit we are very fortunate in North Carolina where the teacher salaries have increased ally and the short amount of time and in North Carolina last school year the median teacher salary was more than the Median Household Income we are very excited about that but we launched a program to recruit those to come teach in our schools. We will double down on that especially when you see all the job losses in the economy we want to reach those graduates and put them in programs we will need to make sure we are on track to Fund Enrollment Growth in North Carolina. I know some of the players are still there that set the august 17 date for schools to open in the plan put together did you consult teachers or parents are Community Leaders spirit the governor came out with a plan in partnership with the Education System with diverse stakeholders from teachers to staff to superintendent the governors plan is plan a and plan b and plan c. Plan a is getting as many students back as soon as possible and the social distancing requirements. In and to make the call. I will send you a question in writing. And that role that you played. But let me ask you what is the state and locality . Thank you congresswoman. I have 59 seconds. First and foremost it should be spent time dealing with a pandemic and then the economy is going to suffer if we do that first and foremost to those that have been hurt the most those two things including distancelearning and is much as you can. What can they learn from the Great Recession . They provided during the Great Recession it was small and ended too soon we had to make cuts that we are still feeling the effects. And out of time. I yield back. A representative from georgi georgia. He is on. And we want to share what im hearing the 12th district georgia and it is critical for the new school year cant get anyone to tell me there is another option this is an important discussion we are having today in fact it is critical that we as a congress and the country come together to decide how we are going to move forward. You spoke of concern as a citizen and since you are a teacher so the federal budget beginning of the year october 1 was 300 billion above the Previous Year and 200 billion above 2018 most of this was Discretionary Spending which was 30 percent of the total federal budget which has increased from one. 2 trillion at oneone. 5 trillion and in the last three months and has tripled what has gone from one. 5 trillion at 5,000,000,000,000. 4 times that originally budgeted. I heard the heroes act mentioned today which would double to accelerate the level of five five. 5 trillion to eight eight. 8 trillion. The heroes act includes a large tax cut known as the state and local tax deduction. As a citizen and educator heidi explain the debt on the facts of these very children we figure how to get back to school this fall . I will empathize on emphasize i am the father of a seven yearold i agree that is balance that congress has to strike in this situation there is no doubt about that. We know the amount of money coming from congress and while the want to connect every student we all went to every student to find innovation to make sure we get them the tools they need to succeed and with that hard balance asking congress to make and how we are still working you have so graciously given us so far. Particularly asking educators and everyone across the state and george. To reduce expenses as a reduce of on reaction of covid19 and now we have the federal government now we increase spending six times in that is currently restricted because of covid19 beyond our control. And that funding levels assuming that i know how we will deal with this situation if we put ourselves in a terrible situation and with the Rainy Day Fund we will deal with that but what do you got to have to get your School System open this fall . There is the officers working on providing a number its very important we put everything together because you are making very difficult choices sometimes with the covid19 crisis. We have done this to save lives thats important. And it is difficult we dont take the spending lightly. And it is a tremendous impact on future generations. We dont know what that impact will be. I yield back. Thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member we appreciate you putting together this hearing and over the course of the last few years the reflection of our future is so important that we see what happens across this country what happens into my colleague that suggested to the children that are in the facilities. Ppe, and then to introduce the bill but i just want to talk about what is that massive revenue loss which is important so those teachers and my district and how important it is for a teacher to physically see the children they can interact with. How are they dealing with this online disruption and how teachers deal with this. I cannot tell you how proud i am of teachers all over this country that are once again and those that spent thousand dollars to get the technology to do exactly what she was talking about and could actually see her students working to the math problems and identify where they are having problems. And thats what we need. We we need that now. And it is unacceptable it is unacceptable to find money to bail out millionaires and billionaires and corporations and we cannot invest in our students right now. And we have teachers are stepping up. And the guidance and as we can all remember and there will be a new normal of what that looks like. And then it is construction season. So what guidance have you had for the pandemic in september . We are very fortunate to have a highly respected medical community. And then to put together a team and to let us know how we can safely implement ohio cdc guidance. That these are not standards enforceable by anybody is that correct . The governor has not yet released if that is guidance. And with that mandates and then to anticipate mandatory Public Health rules. It with those Public Institutions and with those standards of people know what to follow. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Thank you mr. Chair. And to think the witnesses mr. Gordon and mr. Johnson and ms. Pringle for participating and then to ensure in the best way possible and with the conversations and administrators and superintendents and the work that has been done and there is talk the Internet Access as a Rural Communities in my area but it was when school switched to Remote Learning they realize many family still didnt have the Internet Access and in the challenge of the rollout. So one of the Creative Solutions in my area that superintendents sent bus drivers and to drive around at the community with those internet hubs. Thats just one example to create solutions in that community. We were so pleased to see the tremendous effort to feel that learning continued. Just one example of the teacher to run a contest to keep the students engaged in online. And with the local starbucks for my son it just shows the commitment teachers are making. And then appreciate the work. This does create a massive funding issue the longer we are close down the more additional revenue is lost. But then the curve was literally crushed hospitals were not overwhelmed but then to reopen and every day is not only additional revenue that is lost but its also additional businesses to invigorate the economy so it is urgent we continue to safely reopen businesses and with one of your comments with the competency based learning i have always been an advocate of. And to know what they know and then to learn some things. And then to expand on that. And that we need to write the Education System to focus on the mastery of learning and then theres the science at 25 kids can only learn english Language Arts monday to friday nine oh 5 00 a. M. Through 10 15 a. M. That is a failure scheduling. What we learned in this shutdown from my colleague in North Carolina and that they struggle more with the digital platform. I have a parent wrote to be very upset she had three children and a single parent and we are considered essential i want her to make sure her kids do all of this stuff and she is overwhelmed. So it has pushed us im proud of my teachers with the student Parent Teacher conferences as opposed to that more and better for our kids and then to find out. I just want to say again its been many different areas including education and how we can do things differently and and then to see some positive changes thank you for those comments. Thank you mr. Chairman into all the witnesses for being here today this hearing is timely as demonstrators and activists across the country are calling on elected leaders to correct longstanding funding equities harming black people. For far too long it has been prioritized instead of equitable education and then to for further biden is achievement chat gaps and students of color. 96 percent have k12 funding and then to be subjected to a cut with a 7 billion shortfall projected and it seems likely without federal support especially it makes up 75 percent of k12 classes in my district thank you for your testimony and your work how does that disproportionately hurt students of color and low income students . Absolutely throughout history so when we have a crisis it will disappoint proportionately impact the black and brown students in poverty we already are not providing the resources that they need when they need it and this pandemic is just like every other crisis that has impacted them. We know they are already in school if we do not get that that 500,000 more teachers will be laid off and that increases class sizes. And with those guidelines of social distancing and then to be impacted. And then we also know. We know they need to prepare now. And with those core professionals to surround students to try to help them with that Emotional Trauma so absolutely they need that Additional Support and then to ensure she left up her voice right now to get what they need. Let me ask you may follow up question secretary device that where transfer the cares act dollars and that is a departure from the usual practice of how federal funding for Equitable Services is allocated so knowing the amount of learning last among students of color due to the pandemic can you tell us such a policy wpoverty schools . Its crucially important because our schools are so important, and we want to make sure they are protected and the education of our kids is protected. We need tools to provide relief but the key part of that is directed to schools. What the scale is needed to address the crisis . We put nearly a trillion dollars, excuse me an infusion of 58 million endangered state and local government. What scale do you think is necessary . We projected 600 million in the shortfalls for state some money. Schools account for roughly a third of that so that gets you around 210 youve got the additional shortfalls at the local level and additional cost of dealing with covid and opening up safely. It is a substantial sum that the schools need. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. [inaudible] the gentleman from indiana. Herby go, mr. Chairman. Can you hear me now. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the hearing today because i believe its the most important conversation at the moment. How do we get our kids back in the classroom. Ii am pleased to see a number f my colleagues in the hearing room. I do believe weve cheapened the conversation today by not having an inperson hearing its been tragic watching what theyve gone through every single day trying to get a good education through Virtual Learning. Learning. Learning. All the studies showed Virtual Learning has failed to provide an adequate Educational Opportunity to our kids. The conversation today is what is it going to take to get our kids the education they deserve. America is the land of opportunity because we guarantee an Educational Opportunity to every kid in this country and we are about to leave a generation of kids behind if we dont do everything absolutely possible to get our kids back in the classrooms in the fall. What youve already told us today i think you and i agree that the education received in Virtual Learning is far inferior to what they would receive in the classroom, is that correct . Yes. I think we will have the actual analytics to prove that as well but we definitely have stories not just from students and parents but also educators themselves in everything they are doing and that they truly have been champions during this crisis but they need to know this is no replacement for having students in the classroom even when theres at least more in their control during this Remote Learning that they are putting in the effort they know. They see the results every day. This is no substitution for being in the classroom. Theres no doubt about it our teachers are the superheroes in all of this trying to do whatever it takes to deliver that education to these kids. I havent spoken to a single teacher yet that tells me kids dont deserve to be in the classroom, that they should be remaining at home receiving an inferior education because the teachers understand better than anybody that experience in the classroom is far superior to anything theyve experienced the last few months. Thereve been a walks to the scope of talks today about money. What else to the schools need to accomplish the end goal of opening up the classrooms in the fall and on that note, can you talk about Liability Protection tax a lot of School Leaders have called me to say Liability Protections are an important piece of the puzzle. What else is goin it going to to move the conversation towards whatever possible to get our a k ticket could kids in the classrooms . We are still awaiting the guidance from our governor in North Carolina. Thats going to be a very Pivotal Moment for the schools. Are we going to try to get as many in as soon as possible or will we have to shift to strategies that promote social distancing which we know already the challenges that will bring trying to get students in the classroom. Its going to be quite an uphill challenge. For the liability that is something more and more educators are looking for action from their elected leaders. Whatever School Looks Like when we go back in the fall we do not want educators to have to worry about being held liable and heaven forbid if there is a strand of covid19 or even being liable to make sure students are keeping a face mask on. In North Carolina its not going to be a requirement, but that shows how its going to be different statebystate and anything the federal government can do to help reassure educators around light of the question would be very much appreciated. [inaudible] our teachers are affecting [inaudible] i think that is something education leaders and educators would very much support. Have you read the guidelines and recommendations . Yes. Are they reasonable . I hope they can be reasonably accommodating. In North Carolina we are looking at that as a baseline and hoping to get into a plan to get as many students back in as safely as possible. Its going to be difficult. There are guidelines of screening students before coming into school and that is something we are doing work on now is how to practically make that happen to ensure the guideline is bad but you also cannot interrupt the School System. Thank you, gentlemen from new york. Thank you so much mr. Chairman for your leadership throughout the crisis and for providing the committee a number of different ways to continue our work. The shortfall which is the subject of the conversation of the state and local governments as a result of covid are devastating the challenges and losses are an unprecedented scale in Something Like 21 or 22 states have seen an increase in per of cases, something that we experienced weeks ago. Theres been a relatively flat number of hospitalizations but as we regain our footing, we have a real opportunity to be intentional about what we do in terms of revenue and future fallout. I am interested in the impact this has on State Governments and i think it was noted earli earlier. Here in new york the shortfall we provide as a State Government more per capita to take them any state in the nation but our ability to do that is going to be dramatically impacted and the quality of education will the impact it has. The other thing pointed out the Digital Divide when you go to and look at the disparities between some communities are winning or role that dont have access to broadband or devices and the more and more retreat to compensate for the ability to be together by using the distancelearning theyve done whatever would have been expected of them to try to accommodate their students and they are all going to work through the summer hiking as it has been said th that teachers start thinking about the fall in june as the year starts to end. If we could talk about the impact to the quality Remote Learning impacting vulnerable students and as a result of falling further and further behind, what do you expect congress should do to try to address that and hope students in the vulnerable populations . I think the congress is going to need to look at the recovery for the communities and in my community it isnt actually learning lost. Our children can still learn about everything. That is going to be time to make up. We are asking for them to keep the districts whole my biggest fear we know in the past recessions, Public Institutions if they are up and humming and everybody forgets we have to make up for children over time if we dont adequately fund the title program, that is where we will ultimately fail because the educators need to work more deeply and with more time with these fragile communities than the more typical peers. Before i run out of time here, on the topic you mentioned the school years did you expect this is the norm around the country to try to get back that lost time . Thank you, congressman. In cleveland weve already doubled the yearround schools and the reason is we know from evidence three we disavowed how long it would take before you do start seeing regression and learning. I would have the whole system there if i could because you are bringing in the faculty and students perform here but its the right way to go in there with us rethink. I will yield back my time. Thank you very much. The gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Walker. The gentleman from kentucky mr. Culver. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to begin by setting for the record i am here in the committee room. I believe that its important for congress to lead by example. I believe it is very important that we reoffend our economy if congress again showed lead by example which takes me to my first question. A lot of my colleagues have been stating the obvious many School Districts across america if not every School District is going to be faced with huge budget challenges. These challenges are obviously a result of the covid19 at having to temporarily shut the economy down. That is why i think it is imperative that we get serious about reopening. I think that is something thats important to know as we talk about the funding challenges in Public Education as we move forward. One of the complaints ive always had from administrators and School Districts is a lot of times they have adequate budgets but they dont have flexibility to spend the money on programs that they see in the local areas. Its around the highstakes assessment and there is work going on around that but we can do that in overdrive to have the funding to address. I will speak on behalf of the professionals. Not throwing out the requirements when it comes to preserving those that need the most surface from educators but looking at the timeline given the unbelievable challenges that we would all faiths coming up for the next school year. Thank you very much for that. Hopefully that is something that we can do in a bipartisan way to get more flexibility as we move forward. Speaking of bipartisan at the beginning of the pandemic i partnered with my colleagues representative to introduce legislation which allows School Officials to distribute to any number of settings is the most crucial programs to allow for flexibility. Im grateful we took a step however having worked with Food Service Directors during my past the commissioner of agriculture and power as a membe now as a ms committee and the agricultural committee, i know these issues dont go away and recognize the amount of planning that goes into the programs some continue adopting modified schedules this is something where theyve been very crucial for the Delivery Services to the students. But in the main categories one, we were using school buses to reveal students. You might have parents there on behalf of the students with both the raw string being able to hand out those with extremely helpful and also weve had those in the atrisk categories that were not able to go into perform their services and being able to use those tools. I would absolutely encourage the federal government to send those waivers. Mr. Johnson come i, in your w what has been the biggest challenge should decide from the rural areas like my district that have already been discussed heavily in the committee hearings, what are the other challenges for the School District is . This is how we learn as well. It is a concern for the youngest students and cannot be underestimated forever. Thank you and hopefully we can get the School Districts open and try to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. Thank you and i yield back. There was some feedback in that last exchange. If people in the room would use earphones, that was cut out of most of that. Many schools engaged them in Remote Learning but because of the structural inequity schools with more resources adjusted much more quickly. In my home School Districts with more resources and higher income families were able to begin online instructions. There would be less funding. The transition exacerbates and the student will lose the progress they had once achieved. Some of them then to we could have anticipated it because we know that over 12 million are seen across the country and didnt have access to the internet for access to Digital Tools that allow them to continue their learning. So it is exactly the way that you described is based on whether or not they had resources or whether they did not. There are students of color who not only did it have the digital but they have parents that have to work three jobs that were essential workers but couldnt sit down with them to make sure. If they had to use the devices to continue to work ben weasel that the students heard from teachers all over the country where they had maybe 50 of the students in the classrooms. They are going and sitting outside of the Student Homes by the way. We have teachers that are doing that. But we know that these are not new and in fact we put together cohabitation back in february so we are fighting hard to make sure the federal government provides the resources to close that gap and asking for that additional 4 billion to assist in the program. You anticipated my next question but first let me say most go above and beyond what is expected of them and have a passion for helping students learn and they are to be commended. How can the students start preparing as a result of this interrupted school year what kind of challenges do you think they are going to face as they move into the fall and lets assume that everybody is back in school. We have a shared responsibility so we are asking everyone to come together and do their part. We are having those conversations right now trying to make sure that everything our students need including those needs are being met and we are beginning to work before they go back to school. Even when they get back to school, we need to make sure they come back in safe environments. We want students to feel safe and supportive so they can learn. We are working with Community Members and educators and lawmakers and elected officials to make sure we have the resources to students need and educators need to get our parents need for every one of our students. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, i will yield back. Or distinguished colleague mr. Klein. I want to also go the hard working men and women in the Education System and the great job they did getting back home. The information that they needed and even now, preparing for the fall term. Its really an outstanding job every one has come together to do. This committee has the task working on policies to allow them to florida there will be lasting implications. The focus needs to be on evaluating what weve already spent they contributed 59 billion to education and the state spend 362 billion localities spent 332 billion. This comes through to do with 852 billion. They showed the majority gets funding from education comes from state and localities and from my time serving in the Virginia House of delegates and i know how important it is to maintain the fiscal ties as close as possible. Each state and district have unique needs and priorities and the governments should be handling those as they best see fit. They doubled the amount for fiscal year 2020 and the other education related and the ability to allow for more flexibility and repurpose the Technology Needs and that is something that we want to focus on another flexibility. Theres been a lot of discussion about how the federal government needs to spend billions more they havent been used to help those states and localities that can be useful. Thank you for the question again. I sound like a broken record that we would love to have flexibility from the highstakes assessment understanding we are not going to replace accountability because when the federal government invests in education, you want to make sure students are getting the education that they so well deserved. That would be a true highlight and beyond that many people testifying today that with federal dollars that are coming from this crisis do not put too many Strings Attached to them to let the districts spend that on the needs that they have. Arargue engaging with businesses and other district responses . We have had a lot of educational vendors step up and offer their platforms for free. That has been a local district decision and we want to make sure they are high quality. We have had the industries that help with the conductivity provide services for free during the crisis and hopefully that is something that can continue. And on another topic, we are making sure that we connect the business and foss world to what is going on in the classrooms of the better connected students to see all the pathways. In North Carolina a great example even in the midst are the Jobs Available in some kind of computing or coding services. We have tens of thousands of jobs still open even with this crisis and that could be highvalue credential. We make sure we partner with them to make sure the students know their path. Thank you very much. I was back. Thank you. Its good to see you mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this hearing. Quick question for doctor leachman. Its clear out of the families and School Districts cope and how do we expect this crisis to be similar or different than what we went through in the last decade . Thank you and i appreciate that question. I briefly mentioned earlier that they believed was provided in the Great Recession. It was important but only covered about a quarter of the state budget shortfalls and ended too soon when the states were struggling to meet their needs. They acted a lot of layoffs and cuts and those slowed the economy recovery in a significant way. The impact of the school level was pronounced and so just to take a couple of examples the school year was shrunken and there were productions in arizona and fullday kindergarten. Those kind of effects were widespread and in many cases are still with us today. There were fewer in the country than when the Great Recession took hold. Yet we are trying to teach 1. 5 million more kids. What lessons do you think we can learn during the pandemic and what should we maybe think about it now lacks substantially it is crucial with the aid that was provided made a big difference. Numerous economists around the political spectrum have looked at this issue and found significant bang for the buck because it keeps Economic Activity going and makes sure you are not laying off people at the worst time. We should take a lesson from the act and assuring va but that we provided is enough so that they do not have to do those layoffs and that it stays in place as long as it is needed. It ended in 2011 and in 2012 you can do states imposed cuts that thehere that are still with us today so it needs to be enough and stay on as long as it is needed. What actions they take to make sure they are protecting those that are in atrisk groups for the students and educators, we are making sure that we are addressing the needs. These kind of issues need to be addressed and the funding that is provided for can use some of that. But at least it is taking a step in the right direction. We also need to make sure that we have enough educators. We have the support staff and we need to make sure we have Additional Health care workers and nurses and be able to express that as well. Weve got to make sure we have the funding to do those things. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman from idaho, the gentleman from kansas mr. Watkins. The gentleman from kansas. The gentleman from texas. The gentleman from pennsylvania. It is essential that we safely and responsibly open up schools to all of those that cant attend. It is equally as important as opening up the economy. Are there other safety precautions such as plexiglass and perhaps new areas for spacing out the students properly . Of the short answer is no we havent gotten to that Decision Point yet. There is word for the department of health and Human Services to work on funding for School Nurses but again under the governors requirements, we are not looking at having the requirement that federal care act thats something that districts can use the money for if they decide to go beyond the guideline. Are you looking at what other states are doing and having a little of communication absolutely. A lot of contact to share best practices. We are at the very beginning stages of that. I wouldnt be able to provide you a number now from North Carolina but we are watching the State Government and how that is spent. Dave bluetooth connectivity devices as well as the extra supplies that would be needed to return to school in the fall. That will be taken into consideration. The governor of North Carolina indicated that it could be rebuilt based on the metrics. There is significant concern certainly in the k12. What are your thoughts on a on the liability . We would welcome any help that we can get in the federal level. The more we do for the educators, the debtor and any help would be very welcomed. Okay. If their conservation being given to a Safety Officer in the school for instance to monitor the Safety Standards continue . We have not had discussions on a state level. It is something that would be school by school but the idea is on the table. They will be submitting those as they are finalized. Thank you mr. Chairman an i wrote you back. Thank you. People in the room if you could use earphones that would eliminate some of the feedback. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you for this timely and relevant hearing today. I want to thank all of the witnesses for testifying in funding your time and expertise and i just want to say we are at a critical point in the nations history. Three months ago we hit the coronavirus pandemic and now in the midst of this you are addressing another that has plagued the country for generations. We are talking about the racism and systemic inequities in the Public School systems. Millions of jobs have been lost. And they are decreasing the revenue for the upcoming fiscal year. My own state of georgia weve just been made known that its been announced about 11 of the reduction will be in the budget for next year which is so devastating for us to undergo. Budget education is one of the first areas to be cut. We will be faced with how to educate while staying socially distant and how to address the racial inequities in the School System and the lack of diversity in the teaching workforce. Im glad we are here today to Start Talking about finding solution to these problems. This question is for mr. Gordon. Theres been a lot of discussion about opening schools and returning to normal as we say, but we know it is going to be a new normal. Given the Health Education and justice crisis in the country, what can congress do to make sure students receive an education that meets or exceeds the standards they deserve in the coming year . We know he touched upon this a little bit earlier today, but do you have any thoughts on that . I would just say i think that this is a really important moment. This is personal for me. Whats different is in the past we changed the existing system. Weve been pushing against the existing system. As we know it its been obliterated so we not only cant go back there as youve heard from my colleagues, but we dont have to. We can Design Systems for kids. One of the things we noticed children who are living in deep poverty [inaudible] [inaudible] the young lady from illinois is recognized for five minutes to ask questions. Can you hear me. At a press conference. Okay. The young lady from connecticut. Thank you mr. Chair. A couple of things. Can you hear me okay. I cant hear you now. I have heard many members talk about the fact that we are doing this hearing remotely. I would like to make a statement isaf in our Long Committee hearings and have seen empty chairs on both sides and hearings where members always assumed they were working remotely so i remind you that its just geography and we can still continue this work. Thank you everyone for being here and mr. Chair for holding the hearing. You brought up something earlier i want to touch on. You talked about we invested in bailing out and we need to do more Public Education. I heard my colleagues use terms like herculean efforts were referred to teachers as superheroes that are not moving to make those investments, and i think we all want to be good stewards over taxpayer money. We invested 650 billion into the payroll protectioand thepayrolld part of that was allocated independent in a second round of funding for it wasnt even used up because we anticipated that the money would be needed. The constitution was talking about the businesses that we knew that because of the pandemic and what was going on this was something we needed to make an investment in for the impending crisis. As i said so many times before, we talk about how wonderful teachers are and the efforts that they are making a. Of a investment teachers need us. I would like for you to tell us a little bit about you talk about something we havent talked a lot about in dutch, debate coach, can you talk about why its important to make those decisions before we get to the bottom when there is no money left and its empty and since we can already anticipate what will happen . Thank you, congresswoman. Its so good to see you. This was an issue brought on by teachers in your own state i talked with last week. This is not new. We know that particularly in the vulnerable communities there are students with special needs, black and brown students, students in poverty. They come to us already with trauma, housing and security, economic insecurity, all those things. We know that too often they rely on schools for their meals and healthcare. Thats already there. On top of that they have this pandemic. We know our students are seeing family members get sick, those that have experienced tragic losses and we know that they will come back to us having the needs for trained professionals who will help to meet those needs. It isnt going to happen. For us to think about school with less teachers and counselors and nurses, arent you kidding me . Its when we need more of those educators to surround the students. This is what we need are the members of congress to use desktop. We need Additional Support for the students. They are watching. They are already traumatized by what is happening with uncertainty in the world and now we are seeing killing in our communities of color and they are wondering why. Weve got to create a space fore for them to have those conversations. And weve got to know we have educators dare to provide them with the individual attention. Thank you. You are absolutely right. I want it on the record for my colleagues to hear because i question now we talk about budget cuts for schools. My next question is for mr. Gordon for those that are vulnerable or come from households with Health Conditions that may not feel comfortable returning to school in the fall. They dont feel safe how do we address those rules . Its dependent on the health and safety we are planning and used to have that in a contract as well as deepening the investments in the social and Emotional Learning practices weve had over a decade so we can help the kids and families back into the schools. We are watching for signs of neglect and those that we can connect with Mental Health services so it is a blend of creating environments where they can be physically and emotionally safe and providing support in the states to do so. Thank you mr. Chair that is all that i have. Did the gentleman from south dakota have an opportunity to ask questions . I have not yet. Thank you very much. I was curious as we look forward to next time we have this experience what do we do to make sure . This is something thats been amazing. Wevtheyve done an amazing jobd thank you for the federal waivers that allow us to get so many out. One thing we can do better obviously us as we know more about this virus and what we need to avoid and what we can do safely for more access to the nutrition sites would be better. Were there things that they could have gone for your state or others we did see ones that demand started going down there were those that were on the supplychain and i know that there have been a lot of efforts to get the supplychain focused on helping students and families that need it. Thank you mr. Chairma chair manr doubling back and getting the opportunity. You are muted, sir. The young lady from florida. Thank you mr. Chair man. I am a proud graduate of the Public Schools i grew up in cleveland and i know the schools very well and im very appreciative of your leadership. Im interested in the data. Many researchers are highlighting the importance of having publicly sensible data surrounding the athome virtual assistants learning. We are doing this to shine a light that will disproportionately affect the students that are already struggling the most particularly when it comes. I reallwhy we dont have this da database system of the 82 or so School Districts that have shared information on the Distance Learning they are attracting independents and im proud to say one of them is my own miami dade County School. Youre following up with a strategy to identify young people. Theyve spent the least about of time taking Classes Online which they will use to build the program to catch up again this isnt the case for every School District. How important is it that we collect this kind of data to target them with actual visits to get the kids into the Summer Programs . Thank you, congresswoman. I know that youre a proud cleveland graduate. I would say that its absolutely critical that we also did not have the infrastructure to do the kind of job that miamidade did. Fortunately theyve already made the expression on a single platform students and families found different platforms to work with if they even have access to the platform. Its much more difficult to measure how many completed the package be mailed t we mailed ie and to monitor the dashboard. But we are currently researching through as we mentioned before teacher and Parent Survey and to get some estimates where we are committed we expect its going to be individual assessments. We did use them to expand learning to those that we couldnt reach effectively and we are still reaching out to those families and still deploying the enrichment activities just so they stay connected with the families. Thank you very much. If we dont have the money to be passed on to the School Districts, do you expect more layoffs of teachers, i think that is a yes or no question. Yes, congresswoman. Weve already had 500,000. We expect within the next three years probably about 2 million. They are not interested in the quality of education. A quick question. The guidelines havent been followed in North Carolina. They still have an increase of covid19 cases. Why is North Carolina talking about opening schools that are not following the cdc guidelines is it dangerous to open schools when you are still seeing increases . We are relying on the decisions by the Health Advisers and we hope to get back to school and safely as possible but the metrics will determine the decisions made. The metrics are shoving the opposite, that its not safe to reopen. Thats my concern. My concern is that its hard to open up safely when you still have these cases. Thank you and i will yield back. I understand ms. Underwood is back. The Public Schools are the pride of our community. And like schools across the country, they are facing incredible financial educational challenges from the pandemic which is why congress prioritized emergency funding for the k12 schools with the bipartisan care act and that was almost three months ago. They are still hurting and need all of that money. You wrote in your testimony as that cares fine under this guidance what does this mean for students and teachers that you serve . Thank you congresswoman 2 million of money otherwise going to my district that serves the highest child then poverty and nation the cleveland Parochial School those children deserve every bit as my children do but to push those two children who do not live in poverty and across the coalition of 10 million and millions more are critical the way the congress intended because of the 24 million we know we will be drawing down from ohio 15 million are going to unplanned expenditures another five. Six going to cuts already occurred those even begin investing in the next school year. Can you expand on just how unprecedented and harmful the secretarys stiff advances are from the policy perspective . From the beginning secretary devos has made clear Public Education and those who are not interested that Public Schools have the funds they need all of the students. Its all about equity. And we have to be sure we provide the resources they need when they need it. And to do everything they can to undermine the will of congress and they again say thank you for underscoring dad in the heroes act and has not given the authority to change what your intention is to direct those funds to Public Schools. Public education is the foundation of this democracy. That of the students Mental Health experiencing stress or trauma during this time. And with those Additional Resources to fully support the Mental Health. And that how other educators see it as pandemic. And those in order to best help the students. They have experienced loss they are experiencing a level of uncertainty that makes a very difficult for them to learn. We have got to make sure we have Healthcare Professionals and teachers and nurses and counselors they need to come back to say schools so when they come back they feel they are safe and prepared to learn. Thank you for being here. I yield back. Holding this hearing. And i have the feeling we have agreement on something. And so 300,000 students in North Carolina black Internet Access at home. And we would all love to get kids back to the classroom as soon as we can do it safely. But around the country there are likely to be outbreaks and kids dealing with Remote Learning do you consider that a Public Policy priority to make sure everyone has access to the internet at home . Yes. I think that is something that congress should definitely look into. I will not get out of my wheelhouse claiming to be the expert. How that is done can take many different forms. As an educator you think it is a priority and mr. Gordon you represent a large urban School District is that a priority as well . Yes not only education but Everything Else we rely on. Right i hope as you move forward online infrastructure we Work Together to provide all people urban and rural access to broadband because we have a way to go before we have everybody in classrooms safely all around the country. Its good to see you as you were speaking with my colleague about secretary devos from michigan i know all about her and her long crusade to destroy Public Education in this country but i want to talk about systemic racism. The rules she proposed would funnel money away from School Districts and those most impacted by covid19 to private school. She claims all students are impacted by covid19 so all students deserve funding thats like yelling all lives matter in response to the black lives matter movement. I want to ask you about this question the 2016 study showed in the 2010 school year 64 percent of students moved to a less diverse district and now that is approaching 70 percent so talk to me about ms. Devos policy to deal with the systemic racism shaping this country since before we were a country. Congressman you know well as the canary in the mine. For what this devos intends to do with Public Education. No question the country has been wrestling with this issue and unsuccessfully address seeing the inequities that have persisted forever with that secondary information act was passed in the sixties the intent is for the federal government to step in to try to alleviate these inequities. We tried to re center that conversation around and equity and access and opportunities i could take a clipboard into our best Public School to list all of the things from ap courses to healthy environments where they can learn. I disagree our infrastructure of the Public Schools must be addressed. It has always been in the face of their students saying they dont deserve better than that and its absolutely onions on unacceptable secretary of education does understand what equity means. This is an opportunity to change what is happening in the Public School system how we fund them and to make sure when we say every we mean every and the students have what they need. We cannot say weve taken on systemic racism until we deal with the equity of funding and education. Absolutely can not. By the way we need to be talking about racism from housing to healthcare and economic all of that. We must do better as a country. Thank you so much it is true even if you do have a good school if you are hungry or dont have food in your belly or access to healthcare that you cannot thrive. With that i know we pass the 4 00 oclock hour i yield back and thank you for your leadership on this issue. That gentle lady from arizona. The gentle man from maryland. Mr. Chairman. Thank you chairman scott and to the Ranking Member for holding this important hearing and a really big thank you for doing that remotely i am right here on the hill in my office safely separated from the rest of the members so its great to do this remotely and thank you for your leadership and everybody safety i want to touch on as we see this back and forth we are all of the same page but we have to get something done on the broadband issue. The emphasis on telehealth and some of my counties up 40 percent of my students got the will because they dont have broadband in certain counties we have to get this fixed we owe it to the american people. When schools reopen stevie on states will need to reinvest in the social and Mental Health needs of their students to ensure support for trauma and care and social and Emotional Learning redesigning schools for stronger relationships and to provide curriculum support is so important to build the tools to help her kids work through the stress. To experience job loss and covid in severe cases of child abuse so what is the percentage that you think currently have enough counselors to help students cope and how important is it they have those resources . Thank you for that question i dont know that percentage but this is what i know. Far too many especially students of color and those living in poverty are those that are understaffed from teachers to support professionals and nurses and counselors. As a healthcare professional those trained in Mental Health services will be more needed now than before. We already have that need. We are so worried about the fact that even with the money allocated in the heroes act we will not have enough funds to meet that need that is growing because of this pandemic. We are worried we will not have the educators available to come into our schools and teach we talked earlier it is so important to have a diverse workforce. We know our students graduating from college and in particular students of color are more likely to go into debt and will not stay in teaching because they are overburdened these are issues we must confront. We are asking elected leaders to do something. We need your support. In giving them everything they need to be successful. We need it now. We have two months to go all the trauma on top of the financial collapse, on top of covid we had two months to make decisions and provide assistance. By trauma informed practices. This includes with being teachers with the same students digital and in person. How do you meet these needs of students as they get reopened . Fortunately we have been investing in this over a decade. They are great resources out there that are guides how we integrate social and Emotional Learning into every classroom experience so they can self regulate and self monitor but it will provide a lot more of the adult support you were speaking of. We know we have far too little in this Community Even before covid19. We have been investing in additional social workers. We dont have enough nurses or Guidance Counselors even though my kids had less need it is integrated into the actual experiences and the content element but also with the support network in place and thats why they would be so critical because communities like mine and our social and Emotional Learning came out of a School Shooting in 2007 where he shot two students and six students and took his life we also invested in the hardening of security so we have more faithbased personnel and counselors. Thank you mr. Chair and greetings from my office in michigan. It is wonderful feeling thank you so much to the witnesses for your testimony i am so proud to give the taxpayers a bang for their buck as part of their Manufacturing Program with unified Business Technologies women owned and minority owned business in troy michigan who came to this incredible country with 500 in her pocket and with incredible Business Today is making mask and fixing electronic circuit breakers. And now they are creating a new tool, a maching using uv light to disinfect all types of services. I dont know if you have a chance of seeing this machine. This is me using it today. I want to see this in our schools. Our schools want to see this it also works well you are using it and it is 700 bucks. It cleans and disinfects the surfaces with uv light i have heard repeatedly. Safety, get back to certainty. As a statewide superintendent is nice to hear whats going on. Do we have any idea . One. 3billion in michigan and i have the School District looking at a three. 5 milliondollar cut alone just for this next year then we have the rochester School District putting together a brilliant safety plan i am a fan of the schools 219 new buses to do this safely. On the off chance are you familiar with the state House Resolution . To memorialize the congress of the United States to not enact a federal bailout from the state that Michigan State House Republican conference. This was is introduced by a crawford. I am scratching my head. What does it mean for the state to reject to the federal assistance dollars . Who can talk to me about this . May be gordon or leachman . Real quick if you are going to reject federal assistance dollars similar to care is does that get your schools back on track . No. It doesnt get our schools on track we only have five. 6 million cut this year from my state. So this is a big issue we wonder about this and i feel my colleagues i got pushback for saying they want to get back to work but we have to do it safely. So tell me how an Amazing Company like the unified Business Technologies gets this machine sold if we cant buy it . We have an answer . I dont think so we have to get back to robotics training and the guidance counselor secure and the people who have been funded by betsy devos to stop making our laws in michigan. Thank you so much. The gentle lady from nevada. Thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member for having this important hearing i want to thank all of our Witnesses Today for your service to the students across this country and thinking for being here. I have to give a special shout out to all teaching and support professionals literally on the drop of a dime went from teaching in person to Online Learning in a state like nevada we saw almost one third of our students lacking devices to do Distance Learning and nevada like many states were planning for a drastic reduction in state revenue at a time when we try to plan to get back to school in the environment we are already dealing with overcrowded classrooms we dont know how we will pay for additional transportation , continue to have high quality Distance Learning which i believe needs to include High Quality Professional Development as well Additional School meals, our education shortfalls running into the hundreds of billions of dollars we already seek cuts in nevada with an 812 milliondollar budget hole caused by coronavirus and as a result in losses from crucial tax sources to pay for the budget, we look at and anticipated 265 milliondollar projected shortfall k through five funding many states across the Country Planning for budget cuts in the 2021 school year we have to be prepared to see continued shortfalls in the 2122 school year its clear in ted on incredibly tough decisions need to be made. Can you share some of the cuts the education and budget we can expect to see with the likely impact with programs and staff . Yes. Thank you are the first is teachers will be laid off other School Workers crucial to those experiences are laid off librarians, counselors and nurses and others that will affect the experiences of our kids. Thats the first thing because labor cost is so important we need these to educate our kids. We cant make equipment purchases to help to improve technology in our schools. We cant make building upgrades or keep up with maintenance needed in the School Buildings we talked about asbestos and lead. That is put off. You saw them play out during the Great Recession. This is even worse. If we saw the 25 percent Budget Reduction where in 23 students at all levels of the system we eliminated certain transportation and the extracurricular activity we cut art and music and physical education and elective set of high school we would be forced simply just to keep the lights on if we saw the worst of the cuts forecasted. I want to follow up on the issues of the Great Recession during which congress provided 160 billion of the recovery act including 60 billion. The cares act 13. 2 billion k12. Is this enough funding to meet the needs states and School Districts of what they believe is the appropriate response given the circumstances we are facing . 13. 2 billion dollars is not remotely close to what would be needed. As i mentioned at the top of my testimony projecting state only shortfalls 615 million over the next three years. Its an extraordinary crisis providing way last one way amount provided to states and local governments should be sufficient to meeting the shortfalls we have received some made after a Rainy Day Funds. And with those shortfalls and to address the covid crisis. We need to get much higher than 13 million. Its rather clear to was the discussion and letting state and local governments to go bankrupt is bankrupting the future of our children. I yield back. Thats one of the fit Things Congress recognized in the Coronavirus Response, making sure students could receive school meals even though the schools were closed. How is it absolutely consistent with educational experience . You cant just nurture the mind, you have to nurture the body. We all wish that we were not in a place where we rely so heavily on the School Meals First of, but we have to make sure that they get what they need and thats where it is coming from and they stepped up in the crisis thank you all for your support is. Can you Say Something about the importance of the Summer Programs everyone doesnt need e Summer Program but some desperately do. First of all thank you for having this hearing. It comes into play we know forever if they dont have the opportunity for enrichment or to learn, they are going to experience a gap so we try to provide an extra services during the summer to meet those needs. Of course in this moment covid19, that provides a lot of challenges because we cant do what they normally do. I would say in any of those services we would say the same thing that we cant provide them unless they are assuring the studentstudents of the digital e we are experiencing right now while school is in session will exist over the summer. We need to have the funds you provided and the heroes act right now so we can begin to close the individual divide so we can begin to make up any of those offices throughout the summer. That is exactly what i know you intended and we hope that the senate will act quickly to provide those resources. That is a couple of years worth of the achievement gap. [inaudible] we have to make sure we have educators available to provide a good teaching students need. We know with so many already we have to make up the gap. We know we need additional tools for students so they need that additional 4 billion for that funding for technology. So that we can take care of their social and emotional needs we need to do that right now so we can begin to try to build those gaps. You indicated stabilizers and triggers. Are there specific ones you are talking about in the unemployment, food stamps im describing the way that its generally distributed. It stays in place as long as its needed. You set it up however economy evolves. Are you familiar with discounts the families can use to get Broadband Service is . Who the question is how that continues going into the next school year and over the summer. I want to thank all of this is further testimony. They are at the end of the questions and i will call on the ring and member to see if she has any closing comments. Do you have a closing statement i want to thank the witnesses for their testimonies and theres been a lot of talk about the need for more funding. Its possible that after weve evaluated the impact, we will consider whether it would be necessary but first we must evaluate our money that has been spent and what effect it should have, but i want to make an important point. Mr. Klein talked earlier about the amount spent on public and private schools in 2018, 2019 and the breakdown of the funding by force. Looking at just Public Schools, those schools spend 726 billion nationwide in 2017 and 2018 according to the National Center for education statistics. The worst projection is through experience is just the 25 cut to the budget that would be a 181. 5 billion loss. That is significant but that would leave schools 544. 5 billion or more than was spent in 1998, 99 in 2017, 2018. That needs to send in. In other words even if the worst half of education two years from now would still be more expensive to taxpayers than it was nearly 25 years ago and i think any of us would be okay with that if it would deliver better results than it was decades ago. Take the measure and one measure only they scored on the rating assessment in 1998. Let me repeat that. Eighth graders in 1998 score of 263 on the rating assessment and 2019 they scored 263 the same for a lot more money. Only in the federal Government People ask for more and more money but do nothing to improve the delivery of services or to get better results. This is unacceptable. As we rush again to more and more taxpayer money that taxpayers cannot afford that the current challenges, we must pause for a moment to consider why all the money weve spent in the last two decades has been to produce better results. We can go back even further for all of the money being spent in other areas and we would show the same thing. Lots of money spent with no better results. I want children to get the best possible education they can get. I got an excellent education. That isnt happening now and maybe the nato thats why. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. I want to thank the witnesses for the information they got to us. As we consider the legislation to help students survive the covid19 pandemic. We heard about the urgency and equity addressing the challenge as many show up in school. We need to focus on the achievement gaps with revenue challenges we have a lot to work on and i want to thank the witnesses for hosting us today. We have heard about the fact that we are incurring debt, thats true. Many experts say that if we dont spend the money now if could get worse. We could get further than that because if we dont support the economy today, we could go so deep into a recession that it may take years or even decades to come at us. The depression of the 1930s really never ended until they got into world war ii. We dont want that to be the case. So we have to make these investments and when we cover the economy, then we have to progress the fiscal situation that we find ourselves in. Moore has been made about the hearing over the past few months to work in a virtual setting using the direction for the the centers of Disease Control and attending physician and architect of the capitol. The past few months weve gotten a lot of work done on the Coronavirus Response act. This committee has held briefings of contract tracing, representation and the challenges caused by the pandemic in terms of education. Some of our colleagues have been invited to participate in all of the briefings into the panelists that ensure the conversation reflects a range of views except for one previous hearing they declined to do so but this hearing today shows the value of everybody working together so we have additional briefings planned one on the workforce investment relaunching americas workforce project for critical investment as we restart the economy a lot of people have lost their jobs over 40 millionpound additional compensation claims and regrettably a lot of them may think they are going back to their own jobs, but a lot of them arent individual be looking for a workforce investment. At this point people should be comfortable with this technology and we have seen how this works because everybody tried to get into the same bandwidth in the Committee Rooms they could only accommodate so many computers. We look forward to working with everyone at the briefings and hearings coming up. If there is nothing els therese before the committee we want to thank the members. Its been tremendous. Is there anything else to come before the committee . We are adjourned. Thank you very much. Link back Senate Floor Speeches leading off with majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and minority leader Chuck Schumer to talk about the coronavirus, civil unrest and police reform. The first states for implementing stay at home workers as the virus spreads throughout the country. Three months ago george floyd was still alive and had just begun to reignite a discussion around policing. Our country has confronted with hrskills like several years worh of of people in just three and a. Small businesses and Child Care Centers are trying to figure out how to safely reopen. Scol