Childhood elementary and secondary education will come to order. Welcome, everyone. I know that a quorum is present, and i note for the subcommittee that mr. Courtney from connecticut, ms. Mcbath of georgia, ms. Underwood of illinois, ms. Lee of nevada, ms. Trahan of massachusetts, mr. Walberg of michigan. Mr. Johnson of south dakota and dr. Murphy, north carolina. They are permitted to participate in todays hearing with an understanding that there questions will come after all members of the early childhood, elementary and secondary education subcommittee on both sides of the aisle who are present, have had an opportunity to question the witnesses. The committee is meeting today for a hearing to hear testimony on underfunded and unprepared examining how to overcome obstacles to safely reopen Public Schools. As this is a hybrid hearing with members participating both here in the hearing room and remotely i would ask all microphones for participants remotely be kept muted to eliminate background noise. Members will be responsible for unmuting themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they wish to seek recognition. Further for House Resolution 965 and its accompanying regulations members participating remotely are required to leave their cameras on the entire time they are in an official proceeding even if they step away from the camera. Whenever there is an official proceeding with remote participation the clerk will call the role to help make clear whos present at the start of the proceeding, so at this time i ask the clerk to call the roll. [roll call] ms. Shrier, mrs. Hayes, ms. Davis, ms. Wilson, mr. Desonie, mr. Morelli, chairman scott, mr. Allen, mr. Thompson, mr. Keller, mr. Van drew, mrs. Fox. That concludes the roll call. Thank you. Thank you very much. Pursuant to Committee Rules 7c Opening Statements are limited to the chair and Ranking Member. This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement. Were here to ask what Congress Must do to help American Students get back to school during this pandemic. All of us wants our schools to reopen for full time inperson instruction as soon as possible. That fact is not up for debate. The question is what Must Congress do to help our schools get students back get students and faculty back into the classroom safely . Were all coming to a new understanding of just how essential schools are to life in america where working parents can be confident their children are cared for, where economically challenged families know their children can be fed, where our communities can find Common Ground cheering and cheering at sporting events and where americas future is being formed by the knowledge and values we impart to the next generation. Schools are currently struggling to safely reopen because of this president s failed response to the pandemic. There is still no testing and Contact Tracing strategy or science based plan that we know other countries are using successfully to combat covid19. Now, the daily number of new cases in the United States is exceeding 60,000. 60,000, much higher than when the pandemic first caused schools to close nationwide in march. The centers for Disease Control and prevention has made clear that fully reopening schools carries the highest rates of creating new spikes of covid19 infections. We had hoped to have cdc here today to discuss what best practices could help safely reopen Americas Schools when the white house refused to let its officials testify at todays hearing. While initial studies suggest students are less likely to contract covid19 and suffer serious illness across the country outbreak at summer camp said and even among infants make clear we do not know enough about the risk for children. And the Cancer Foundation analysis estimates that 1. 5 million teachers, nearly 1 in 4 have conditions to put them at higher risk of serious illness if they contract covid19. Risk can be mitigated and tragedies can be prevented but it requires a significant federal investment to help schools take necessary safety precautions. Democrats have not been idle waiting for a miraculous disappearance of covid19. The cares act in march provided over 13 billion directly to schools to help deal with the of closure and transition to an Online Learning environment. In may the house passed a heroes act with another 60 billion in Emergency School funding to help schools buy personal protective equipment, sanitize classrooms and make special arrangements for students and teachers in high risk categories so schools can safely reopen. And this reopen and review Americas Schools act was included when the house passed the moving forward act and another investment of 130 billion that can be used to reconfigure and modernize schools. Unfortunately, our republican friends in the senate have chosen a person like the president who hide from the problem and taken no action under house proposals to help Americas Schools safely reopen. Were hearing this week the senate might finally be waking up to the enormity of the problem. I hope they shake themselves awake because time is not on our side. For many the school year should begin next month, but you cannot modernize the hvac system in a 40yearold School Without notice. According to the Superintendent Association the average district will need 1. 8 million of work before schools can safely reopen. The house voted to give them the money to get started months ago. The senate slept. Meanwhile instead of joining democrat tuesday deliver more funding to help schools reopen safely secretary devos and President Trump are threatening are threatening to strip funding from Public Schools that determine they cannot safely bring all students back into the classroom fulltime. They had it backwards. As the National Survey published monday found 86 of Americas School principals said its extremely important thats in quotes extremely important to get additional funding so their schools can safely reopen. And thats just the opposite of the administrations threat to defund schools. And to be clear the president has no Legal Authority to with hold school funds that congress appropriated. And i should also note that colleagues now believe that the Trump Administration should act as a National School board that courses schools into reopening for full time instruction regardless of local Health Conditions. Meanwhile the Education Department has no plan no plan at all for transitioning students back to inperson instruction safely. Instead it is blaming teachers and administrators for not doing enough. So well be listening today to National Leaders and want to make sure congress provides meaningful assistance to Americas Schools. I thank our witnesses in advance for their advice and i now yield back to mr. Allen for the purpose of an opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Reopening american schools has dominated family conversations around the country the last few weeks. The good news is science is on our side and federal agencies like the centers for Disease Control and prevention and state agencies like the Georgia Department of Public Health have provided detailed reports on how we can reopen schools safely. I hope during todays hearing we can put political finger pointing aside and put our childrens interests first while we discuss not if but how we can safely reopen schools this fall. I know both my democratic and republican colleagues agree that students are being harmed by the physical closure of schools and that we need to provide the option of inperson instruction. As we gear up for a new school year this fall theres a country how to reopen our nations schools safely, needs to be a top priority for this committee. This past spring more than 55 Million Students were affected by covid19 School Closures. That number accounts for approximately 97 of students nationwide. The result, well, the numbers speak for themselves. The collaborative for student growth projected some students could experience as much as a 50 reduction in typical learning gains as a result of School Closures. Another analysis conducted by mckenzie and company, a Consulting Group found that when all the impacts of covid19 are taken into account the average student could fall seven months behind academically. As leader mccarthy argued we cannot afford to let a generation miss out on being taught. President trump also recognizes the vital importance of safely reopening Americas Schools. Sadly, learning loss isnt the only challenge students face due to School Closures. This pandemic and subsequent School Closures have dramatically reduced interactions between Vulnerable Children and trusted adults while exacerbating conditions that contribute to child abuse and neglect such as financial strain and social isolation School Closures diminish educators ability to serve these vulnerable students. In addition for some Children School is the only place where they receive nutritious meals on a consistent basis. According to the department of agriculture more than 30 million children in the u. S. Count on schools for free or low cost meals. So when schools and Child Care Centers close children miss out on essential food services. Lets not forget the economic down side of keeping schools closed. If children cant attend School Parents cant return to work. In fact, the Brookings Institution args the world could lose as much as 10 trillion over the coming generation as a result of School Closures today. School closures also disproportionately impact the economic wellbeing of lower income and single parent households. While families with multiple workers may be able to have one working adult scale back in their hours or quit their job to take on caregiving duties full time, this is unlikely to be fesable for all families especially those already struggling financially during this economic downturn. In may the cdc released guidance on reopening schools that includes ways in which schools can help protect students, teachers, administrators and staff. These guidelines recognize that each school is unique and there will be no one size fits all solution to reopening. Given that schools vary in their location, size, structure, the cdc recommends that School Officials should determine in collaboration with state and local Health Officials whether and how to implement cdc guidance. More over, the American Academy of pediatrics also released guidance for schools. They strongly advocated all policies considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. What do educators think . The American Federation of teachers found that 76 of educators surveyed would be comfortable returning if Certain Health and safety conditions were met at their school. This includes daily cleaning and sanitizing of school facilities, additional protections for atrisk students and staff and availability of protective equipment. These are steps we can and should take to safely reopen our schools. Thats why this morning i introduced the educational flexibility for families act. Legislation that requires k12 schools to provide an option for students to safely attend inperson classes for the Upcoming School year in order to be eligible for any federal assistance. My bill would ensure that the option for inperson learning is on the table and available for families around the country who want their children to safely return to the classroom this fall. Im proud of the educational leaders in my district who are committed families the flexibility they need this school year whether its in the classroom, dins learning,Distance Learning, home schooling. The health and future of our nations students depend on it. I thank our witnesses for testifying on this important topic today, and look forward to hearing from them about the measures we can take to safely reopen americas classrooms this fall. And i yield back. Thank you, Ranking Member allen, for that opening statement. All the members who wish to insert written statements to the record may do so by submitting them to the clerk electronically by microsoft by august 26th, 2020. First is the superintendent of the Dallas School district. He served as the dallas isd superintendent since superintendent since 2015. Hes first person of the texas School Administrators, a proud graduate of Independence School district and also got a doctorate in education. Next is the president of the national pta, the nations oldest and largest volunteer Child Advocacy association. A Leadership Development expert from modesa, texas brought almost 20 years of experience at all levels of the pta, a mother of three and grandmother of four , shes a dedicated advocate of children no matter their demographics, ethnicity or household income. Next, the commissioner of education for the state of tennessee. She comes from a family of educators and is committed to increasing access to excellent education for all children. She began her work as a High School History and economics teacher in baltimore. She was sworn in as the education commissioner on february 1, 2019. And prior to joining the Tennessee Department of education commissioner shiwin served on the texas agency, earned her masters of arts and teachings at John Hopkins University and phd from Claremont University in california. Last is dr. Sean oleary, md, university of colorado. A doctor of pediatrics at the University Colorado of school of medicine and childrens hospital. Hes an accomplished researcher with over 120 peer review publication. His research focuses on vaccine preventable diseases. Dr. Oleary is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health and serves as the vicechairman on the committee of Infectious Diseases for the aap. He also serves as liaison to the Cdc Advisory Committee on immunization practices for the pediatric Infectious Disease society. We appreciate the witnesses for participating today and look forward to your testimony. Let me remind our witnesses we have read your written statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to rule 7b each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a five minute summary of your written statement. And let me remind the witnesses that pursuant to title 18 of the u. S. Code section 1001 it is illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify any statement, representation, document or material fact presented to congress or otherwise cover up the material fact. The testimony staff will keep track of time and will use a chime to say when no is left and one is up entirely. A longer chime when time is up. Please be attentive to the time and wrap up when your time is over and reveal your system. For the witnesses participating re remotely if any of you experience technical difficulties in your testimony or later on in the hearing you should stay connected to the platform. Make sure youre on the mute button and immediately call the committee site to the director. We will let all the witnesses make their presentations before moving onto questions. When answering a question please remember to mute your system. And i will first recognize the doctor. Sir, you have five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, do appreciate the opportunity to testify in front of you this morning. Im the superintendent of the dallas independent School District. Im also here representing aasa, the superintendents association. As im a member of the covid19 Recovery Task force, its an honor as i said to be in front of you today. The dallas isd has 153,000 students. When we shut down right before spring break we had to offer we decided to offer some opportunities for learning at home. We have a master plan to deploy devices to all of our students but then we ran into other issues about connectivity once the devices got in the hands of our students and families. We figured out we tried to trap teachers and eget prepared but weve had significant longterm issues how we respond to those matters. When we started this journey back in march as Dallas County only had a total of 1,800 confirmed cases in the county. In the month of july weve had 14 consecutive days where weve had over a thousand cases per day, so the context has been changing significantly as weve moved forward. Were now learning our best option may be to do Distance Learning. We certainly want to see our students. We havent seen our students since march and we know we need to see our students but things are evolving. In fact, tonight im meeting with our school board to present the latest option so we can offer both remote and on campus instruction. But how we actually do that we need to buy some time with our school board. Recently also the state of texas has pivoted a little bit. Initially they said we wouldival have to have inperson instruction before we qualify for any employment. Theyve now given us a full week window where we can have learn virtual instruction and still be able to qualify for state funding for our public education. The covid cases had been a thousand a day for this month. However, we have the recent good news because weve been asked to really wear masks and social distance. The last two days have gotten a lot better. Dallas county were from over 7,000 to 400. The bad news is the deaths have increased significantly in the county. So theres this lag effect, and thats precisely why were asking for more time for our families. In addition its important you to know 91 of our families are ethnic minorities. Blacks and latino families. These are the larjest two affected. As the crisis got worse we are now at a 5050 split. And now we feel if we did a survey today itd be more than 50 of our parents that would ask for an opportunity for virtual instruction. And the next matter also changing early on when you asked our teachers how many were willing and able to come back, 91 of our teachers said they were ready, willing and able to come back. As we talk to our teacher organizations and building a new survey that has completely changed. Were probably at 5050, maybe less than that as we try to communicate to our teachers. We have a lot of employees who signed up this evening. I know my time is running short. I also want to say that we brought Broadband Connectivity is a huge issue for us. If we actually have to shutdown its going to be very imperative for us to have an opportunity to continue learning at home. There are bills in front of congress that would make this a reality to be able to have high quality Broadband Connectivity for all of our families not only for education but also to have telemedicine and also the ability to apply for a job. Were fortunate right now we have some funds in reserve but thats not true for most School Districts. The number of bills in front of congress. We know congress had to help large business, Small Business but now state and local governments need that support as well including firefighters and our teachers to make sure that we have an opportunity to be successful in future years. Thank you very much. Thank you. You see how five minutes goes by so fast, but thank you. I five minutes, please. Thank you. Chairman sablan, Ranking Member allen and members of the subcommittee, thank you so much for this opportunity to testify today on what is needed to support the safe reopening of our nations Public Schools in the midst of this pandemic. Im here today on behalf of national pta, the nations oldest and largest Child Advocacy association. Since 1897, national pta has been a strong advocate and the resource for millions of parents, teachers, grandparents, families, and Community Members who share a commitment to improving the education and health and safety for all children. We speak with one voice for every child. As a president of national pta, i have seen firsthand how the partnership between parents and School Leaders is now more important than ever. Unfortunately, this pandemic is far from over, and we cannot downplay the critical nature of this virus. Were seeing a substantial increase in cases across the country, including in my own home state of texas. Children are the future of our nation. And we must keep them safe. Claims that all children are asymptomatic and cant spread virus are simply not true. Our utmost priority during this time continues to be the health and safety of all students, their families, educators, and school personnel. States and School Districts or the federal government should not simply hoist plans for reopening schools on parents. State and School District leaders must meaningfully engage with parents and stakeholders on developing plans to reopen schools and subsequently throughout the year as changes occur and plans in strategies to insure both learning and safety. Parents know the value of inperson instruction and want their children to be back in school this year. However, this must be done safely and effectively, and with engagement of all stakeholders, especially parents and students. Our association understands that the reopening of our nations schools during this crisis is vital to insure the continuity of education. However, it should not outweigh the safety and the mental and physical health of our students, educator educators, staff, and families our nations parents and educators have concerns. We recently surveyed parents and 72 were not confident schools could physically reopen in a safe manner. Regardless of each approach to beginning the school year, safely and effectively reopening schools is going to take resources. Whether schools begin the year in person, remotely, or a hybrid combination, funding our nations Public Schools should not be political. It is an investment in our nations future success. Schools must be prepared to address the transition back to school. The trauma of a pandemic, and the many instructional issues, including the effects of learning loss and the digital divide. The added strain of recovery from a worldwide pandemic will wreak havoc on all localities and will require significant, immediate, and continuing support and resources from federal and state governments. National pta is encouraged by and thankful for the adoption of previous covid19 packages. However, despite these actions there are and will be continued needs Congress Must address. National pta has been advocated ing for additional aid for our Public Schools in response to this virus. Before i reiterate our previous recommendations, i want to reenforce our opposition to any private School Voucher programs or other mechanisms to funnel public dollars to private schools. Our Public Schools must be fully funded. Our larger recommendations call for action in five areas. Building off the education stabilization fund, the fourth covid19 Emergency Fund must be provided 175 billion in funding directly to states to support k12 education. Next, were recognizing the devastation facing state and local economies. Its clears when schools open their doors, their student population will be significantly needier. We have urged congress to provide 13 billion for the i. D. E. A. And 12 billion for title i throughout 2021. Next, outside of and in addition to the fiscal stabilization fund, Congress Must include 4 billion in funding for Remote Learning through the erate program. Next is a provision for a one time infusion of 245 million for the statewide Family Engagement centers to enable them to support the needs of families, educators during this crisis, and last but not least is the increased funding for food at fda to prevent food insecurities, to help schools as students physically go back to school. National pta does urge congress to act swiftly. All right. Ms. Boggs, thank you very much for your statement. And i now would like to recognize dr. Schwinn, who did not take a flight from baltimore to join us here in the Committee Room this morning. Dr. Schwinn, you have five minutes, please. Good morning, chairman sablan, Ranking Member allen, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me today. I very much appreciate the opportunity to share tennessees story and the work that continues to be done on behalf of the students. I want to thank the governor and foressee General Assembly their support prioritizing education. Tennessee is committed to the same level as previous years. However, we know this is not like other years. We know the school year will look and feel different. Districts are trying to make decisions with constantly updated information. Discussionerious that is worthy of a greater understanding of the complexities that exist. Core, our systems have the Monumental Task of keeping people safe and healthy so that we can provide children with a strong education. In tennessee, most districts are choosing to include both an inperson and a remote option and are focusing on how to do that safely. These are unimaginably hard, taxing, and critical decisions, and as we prepare for School Reopening, there are three primary areas that must be addressed. The health and safety in schools, technology, and Child Wellbeing. First, to safely reopen schools, we must put the health of our students and staff front of mind. Under governor lees leadership, the department of education has partnered closely with other agencies to address the needs of the pandemic. The cross Agency Partnership has led to a number of significant resources for our schools. Including ppe for every staff member, disinfecting kits for classrooms, and resources codeveloped with the department of health. To reopen, we must provide these types of assurances and deliver. Second, we must address the opportunity and access gaps in technology and broadband that exist for our students and their teachers. Governor lee recently announced 15 million in Technology Grants for our districts, which will support purchasing one computer for one third of all students in tennessee in grades three through 12. This investment in devices allows for continuity of instruction when Remote Learning is required. However, its also a critical investment in our Education System that is necessary now and will continue to pay dividends in the future. Finally, School Reopening must consider Child Wellbeing regardless of the format of instruction being provided so that every child has his or her needs met and services provided. When schools are closed, those Services Become more challenging to deliver and can impact a childs ongoing development. The department created a robust Child Wellbeing task force to focus on the needs of students as they return to school. This has been done alongside significant academic resources, Free Professional Development for teachers and principals, and grants to expand opportunities for both children and school staff to address the learning loss and Child Wellbeing needs that resulted from School Closures. In closing, we must continue to ask ourselves, what is in the best interest of students and staff as we balance the needs of community health, access to strong educational opportunities, Financial Stability for families, and Critical Services to students. Education is personal to everyone. We arent just talking about an abstract idea. Were talking about children. My girls, the students i serve in tennessee, our children. Its nothing if it is not personal, which is why we must treat it as such and not as an either or conversation. Families must make their own choices, and districts must insure that they are considering the feasibility of providing those choices. If schools are going to be open, it must be done safely and with sufficient Health Protocols and supplies in place. It must also allow the flexibilities necessary to protect vulnerable staff and students. If schools are going to be closed, then we will need to have clear plans on how we will support working families who may not have an option to work from home, how to provide food to students just as they would receive at school, how to provide the required special education, language, counseling, and Health Services necessary for students to continue to learn and grow, how to remotely teach children to read, how to address the increasing and unreported cases of abuse and suicide that have been noted, and how to do all of this while still insuring children continue to be educated. Any option we choose has consequences. Which is why options are so important. It is also why federal funding will continue to help our schools to create those options with the resources necessary to do so safely and responsibly for all. But there is a clock. Schools are starting. This is one of those moments for our field and our country. Our kids deserve our best right now and nothing less is acceptable. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Schwinn. Thank you for ignoring the clock at this mornings hearing. I would now like to recognize dr. Oleary for five minutes please. Chairman sablan and ranking chairman sablan and Ranking Member allan, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I am part of the team that authored guidance on School Reentry. The purpose is to inform policy that fosters the Overall Health of children and adolescents while also protecting teachers, staff, and communities. Our guidance is based on the best currently Available Evidence and is updated as new evidence comes to light and we learn more about covid19. We start from the knowledge that children get much more than an education at school. In addition to math, reading, and science, schools help students develop important social and emotional skills, offer healthy meals, and provide physical activity among many other benefits. Lengthy time away from school deprives students of these benefits and makes it difficult for schools to identify and address learning deficits, child abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation. Any parent of schoolaged children can tell you the difficulties we faced when schools shut down in the spring. My own children missed their friends and missed out on learning and physical activity. As working parents, we struggled to find ways to meet their needs and perform at the same time. The important of inperson learning is well documented and theres already evidence of the negative impact of children because of School Closures. Its been hard on minority children as well as children who are mentally fragile and those who are living at or near poverty. Aap carefully weighed the evidence and determined our overall goal should be to have students physically present in school this fall. However, this can only happen with measures to keep students and staff stafafe. Safe. This does not mean that we recommend that all schools open five days a week from the start of the school year. Many parts of the country are currently experiencing uncontrolled spread of covid19. While the aap urges those areas inperson learning in goal, we realize they will have to use Distance Learning until cases decline. Our guidance is based on evidence that children and adolescents are less likely to be symptomatic and less likely to have severe disease. A study that was published from south korea showed children under age 10 were roughly half as likely to spread covid19 to others. The same study also suggested adolescents and teens age 10 to 19 may spread the virus at rates similar to adults. With these data in mind, School Systems may prioritize returning younger children and take additional measures to insure physical distancing and the wearing of Face Coverings for older children. It also needs to be acknowledged that covid19 policies are intend to mitigate, not eliminate risk. While no single action will eliminate the risk of transmission, coordinated interventions can greatly reduce that risk. Schools need to follow guidance from Public Health officials, adhere to monitoring and cleaning protocols, utilize Face Covering as much as possible and urge frequent hand washing. They need to implement new busing, it is also important that children are up to date on all vaccines including the influenza vaccine and have their annual checkups. Schools must also be prepared to address a wide range of Mental Health needs of children and staff when schools reopen. The emotional impact of the pandemic, including the loss of family members, financial concerns, and social isolation demands careful planning. In order for schools to safely reopen with students in the classroom, Congress Must provide sufficient funding to help schools adapt and make necessary changes in accommodations. We urge congress to provide at least 200 billion in funding to help schools reopen. Money must be available to all schools regardless of their timeline for reopening. Schools in areas with high rates of covid19 spread may need to consider delaying a return to fulltime inperson instruction, and these schools will need the same or greater federal investments, not less. In closing, reopening schools in a way that maximizes safety, learning, and the wellbeing of children and communities will clearly require substantial new investments in our schools. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, chairman sablan and Ranking Member allen. Well, thank you, dr. Oleary. Thank you to all of the witnesses for their statements. Under Committee Rule 8a, we will now question witnesses under the fiveminute rule. I will be recognizing subcommittee members in seniority order, and again, in order to insure that the members fiveminute rule is adhered to, staff will be keeping track and will use a chime signal when one minute is up and when time is up entirely. They will sound a short chime when theres one minute left and a longer chime when time is up. You cant miss the chime, the longer chime. So please be attentive to the time and wrap up when your time is over. Again, if any member experiences technical difficulties during the hearing, you should stay connected on the platform, make sure youre muted with the mute button highlighted in red and use your phone to immediately call the i. T. Director, whose number has been provided. And as chairman, i recognize myself for five minutes. I have my first question for the president of pta, ms. Boggs. Ms. Boggs, how many schools plan to implement rotating schedules where students will rotate daily, weekly, monthly, or on a quarterly basis . Public schools in my district also plan a staggered schedule under a partial reopening scenario. So how have families reacted to the idea of rotating School Schedules . What is the stance of parents on rotating schedules when they have children across different grade levels . What challenges can rotating schedules present for parents who are essential or onsite workers or families with multiple children in schools across different grade levels . Thank you. As i visited with all of the students across our nation, it was evident that every school is implementing a different plan. Theres no one way for everyone to do it the same. I think its important that the School Districts have conversations with their parents and their students and their educators to find the best plan, whether that should be inperson, remotely, or a hybrid. I think its going to change even as you heard dr. Hinojosa, it could be weekly in our state. I think thats what youre going to see for all others. How do parents feel about that . Well, theyre concerned. As you noticed in the survey last week when we had an online forum with Infectious Disease doctors. 72 of the parents were not sure about the safety of schools. So its important when we talk about funding that everyone understand we need to really fund our schools appropriately to help them address the virus. Its a lot of i get it. A lot of money asked for, but we are dealing with a disease that is infecting this entire country, and the future of our nation is at risk because our students are the foundation for our nation. They need to be protected as well as the educators that are giving them the tools to be successful. When you talk about challenges, what we have seen and what you have heard from everyone on your panel is that distanced learning is not the best way. All parents, not one, wants their schools to be reopened and their children to be at school. So its really important that everyone understands parents are not against going back in person. Theyre just worried about the safety of their students and of their children. And of the educators as well. This is an essential business for our nation. We need to carefully fund it and enact the right resources for everyone to be successful. And thats why you saw pta with the five asks were asking for. Its important, no matter what you do, inperson, remotely, or hybrid, youre going to need help, and we ask you do that as congress. Thank you. And before i forget, i seek unanimous consent to enter into the record a short presentation submitted by dr. Bobby cruz, director of Instructional Technology of a Public School system. Ms. Boggs, again, parents was there a preferred rotating schedule, whether its half day, two days a week, a, b, c schedule, or a day a week . We didnt see a clear path every parent is different, as every community is different. I think really the best option for you and congress is to think about giving local control, giving them the resources to be successful. If you ask them their first choice, its for their children to be in school. Again, safety is of utmost importance. A National School board of education would not work, i mean one size does not fit all, i think. My time is up. And i will submit i have questions for the record. So at this time, i would recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Allen, for his five minutes of questioning. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Dr. Schwinn, i want to thank you for being here today to talk about this critical topic. You know, i believe that every family has a right to educational options. And particularly this fall, i think the one thing that we might benefit from in this terrible pandemic we have been through is i have seen remarkable parental engagement in childrens education now. And im seeing that the parents are seeing our Education System a lot different. And i think theyre going to be demanding options in the future. But obviously, every child is different. I have surveyed my grandchildren. And i have surveyed their parents. And, you know, one says, you know, like, she can learn how to distance learn, but hes got to be in school. So every child is different. And i think that, again, you know, that the problem with congress is its been this one size fits all, this is what you have to do. What i hear from educators across the country is they dont have any flexibility when they get to funding, because every School District is different. In your testimony, you discussed the choices you had to make in tennessee around physically reopening the schools. Have you looked at whats at stake if you dont set a goal of inperson learning to give parents that option this fall . Yes, sir, and thank you so much for the question. I think tennessee is a great example of a state that has urban suburban rural communities, all with different needs and challenges, and thats why we think Parent Choice is so important about whats best for their own child. When were thinking about the risks and consequences of not reopening schools and having that choice available, we have looked at our data and projected out the significant learning loss for students. I think many of you remember we had tornadoes before the pandemic, so some of our students have been out of school for six months and longer. So we know were going to have learning loss. That affects our most vulnerable populations more than anyone else, and especially when we think about our early learners. We have looked at our Child Development statistics. We worked closely across state agencies around that and noted more of our vulnerable populations are at risk and they rely on schools for services. Its logistically very difficult to provide those surfaces if children are not in school. Some of the things were thinking about is how do we get schools to open in a safe way and provide resources so families have options that are so critically important for their children. Thank you. You and i both care about students, and we care about their health and their welfare. But we also have to look at the economy and i dont think these two things are mutually exclusive. In fact, this congress is spending an enormous amount of money to try to deal with this pandemic. I dont think thats going to be good for our children. I think its going to affect generations and generations and generations of our children because of this huge debt that were building in this government, and it does not seem like theres going to be an end. And i dont think i know its not sustainable. But American Families are struggling. Because of covid19. And theyre concerned about their childrens future. It seems clear to me that the primary way we can help struggling families now is by working to reopen schools. In other words, in our rural communities, we have got to reopen schools. I dont think we have a choice. We have already reopened businesses, and businesses are doing incredible innovative work to make sure that we keep one is our food supply, if you can believe it. We had some challenges with that. But i recognize that reopening schools presents a lot of challenges, and theres so much we still dont know about this virus. Can you discuss the unique challenges that you have tackled in reopening the schools in tennessee, and how can what you have been able to do help schools across this country . I think we need idea sharing, although every community is different, but what are some things you have implemented you would like to share with us . Absolutely. Briefly, we have done a lot with academics. We will have an online academic system with video lessons. We offered free pd for teachers and principals, over 18,000 teachers and half the principals in the state have pd ready to go back. Governor lee has appropriated funds for face masks, gloves, disinfecting wipes, et cetera. We have done a lot to make sure people are safe and ready. Thank you very much. Thank you. That alarm is obnoxious, if i could say that. Mr. Chairman, could they ring it five or six times and then stop . Because it makes it difficult to hear the witness. Well, i think maybe one time. All right, i think the clock is when it rings, it stops. Witnesses try their best to stay within the five minutes. I dont control the clock. Its actually brandnew because i broke anyway, next up, our National Teacher of the year, you have five minutes. Thank you. Thank you to everyone for being here today. I think we all want schools to reopen and to go back to normal, but i think the reality is that no one can say with absolute certainty that we can do that safely. Not governors, not commissioners, not the secretary of education, not the president , not this committee, so i think we have to explore every available option and every precaution to keep students and faculty safe. My question is for dr. Oleary. I have talked to many in my district about plans they have for reopening. And im concerned because none of those plans involve testing. Do you believe that states and districts should be responsible for insuring that individuals in schools have access to testing if they request it or if that is needed . Thank you for that question. Its an incredibly complicated issue right now. You know, i wish we had more Testing Capacity in the u. S. That would greatly help matters right now. But i think, you know, like many of the issues were discussing, theyre very contestable down to the district and the school level, so i know that schools across the country are asking that same question. How are we going to get testing done . So just to point out, i dont think testing all students before attending school doesnt appear to be a good approach, because if youre negative one day, it doesnt mean youre going to be negative the next day, testing asymptomatic students and staff is not in the cards at this point giving the Testing Capacity. In terms of testing symptomatic students, yes, we have to have plans on how to do that safely. As we approach the school year and, you know, inevitably some other respiratory viruses mimic covid19 are going to circulate, we need to have plans in place on how to handle that, and to get those students tested with a turnaround time that is reasonable so the turnaround times really dont help you right now. If you are waiting seven days for a test, that doesnt help. And thats going to exclude students for longer than is necessary. Moe of them are actually not going to have covid19. So i absolutely agree with you that we need to come up with a good plan for testing, but its going to be even down to the school. Thank you, because what i heard i guess my granular question on that regard is, if you have a faculty member, a student, or someone who says i feel symptomatic, can i be testing, so i understand we cant do a universal testing plan, but no one has been able to answer to me if a staff member comes in and they say im feeling symptomatic, most of the responses i have gotten is that they would have to seek some type of communitybased testing or figure it out on their own. Theres a National Poll of School Principals that found many principals are concerned over the safety of their staff, especially those who are older or immuno compromised. Dr. Hinojosa, do you have a plan to address the concerns of our most vulnerable Staff Members . Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I mean not just teachers. Everyone in the building, cafeteria workers, vendors, everyone who is in and out of our educational spaces. No, absolutely. We have a form we have distributed to all of our employees to give us specific information on their Health Conditions, and we will handle those on a casebycase basis. What you described is what we faced this summer as we tried to distribute food, half a million meals a week, to our we had difficulty finding enough employees to come and distribute the meals. Thats why we went to one day a week to distribute meals and technology to all of our students. So we do have a plan. We will identify them and work with them individually on how we execute it. I concur with the person speaking on that, because they conveyed that same feeling to us locally in the district. Thank you. I have also heard from leaders theyre afraid the situation may lead to a shortage of fulltime teachers and substitute teachers. I think theres a population we havent talked about. How would this potential shortage in the teacher work force affect students with disabilities . Dr. Hinojosa. Students with disabilities are probably our biggest concern, because many of them, especially medically fragile students, the teachers need to get close to them. If they already have a medical condition, this is going to exacerbate the shortage area. We have a shortage of bilingual teachers. This situation is not going to help. It will make it more difficult to hire for these positions. Thank you. My time is about to expire, but dr. Schwinn, i have one question. Can anything you have talked about or any of the interventions you have discussed happen without government or federal resources and support . Yes or no . We will appreciate any resources that will help us open schools safety. Can you do it without it, yes or no . Those resources would be incredibly helpful. Yes or no. Thats the answer. Tennessee is doing great work to make sure we can reopen safely. Thank you very much. I now would like to recognize the full committee Ranking Member, dr. Fox, for five minutes please. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i want to thank all of our witnesses for participating in the hearing today, particularly to dr. Schwinn for being here in the Committee Room. Thank you for the work you and your schools have done in tennessee to serve the students since the outbreak. And for coming here today to discuss the ways we can help students get the education they need in the upcoming year. In many ways, the best way to do so is in person. Despite commendable efforts by educators, students and families in the unexpected months of Remote Learning, its clear for many students the best chance for success is that inperson instruction in the classroom. Can you describe the advantages of having students in person this fall . Absolutely. And thank you for that question. I think that it is critical that we have opportunities for students to be in person. I have two young daughters myself. Both are in third grade and one is in kindergarten. Thinking about for a very young learner, the need to learn to read. Thats very difficult to do remotely. We also know that many of our students rely on Services Like special education to go to a previous question, tennessees looking at innovative options like having 200 teachers get endorsements for special education at the cost to the state so that we can provide those resources in schools. When we think about what schools provide, health care, counseling services, et cetera, that can be done in schools, and schools being reopened is incredibly important for those. It sounds to me like youre focusing on students, and thats something that needs to be done. I have said for years, schools are basically focused on administrators and teachers and their convenience, not for focusing on students. So thank you for that. Again, the focus is often on the obstacles. But i believe we can find ways to overcome these challenges just in the two examples you gave. Prior to march 2020, one might have said transitioning all Classes Online is inconceivable, but many schools accomplished this feat swiftly. What makes you so confident it is in fact possible to reopen schools safely in person this fall . What evidence do you have to support your decision . I appreciate that question. I think its a great opportunity to talk about how adults can support children. So in the state of tennessee, our state legislature, our governor, and we have a history of governors who have committed to education in the state, we have not reduced state funding to Public Schools in the state of tennessee. Governor lee has allocated millions of dollars for technology, safety equipment, resources, health and Sanitation Equipment for schools. All of that is so that our schools can reopen because we understand how important it is for our families and for our children. We also know how important it is for our staff. Teachers as well as support staff and district staff. Were getting them what they need so they can do the really hard work about educating our students. We know that has got to be the priority. Thank you again. Dr. Schwinn, much has been learned over the past several months about the coronavirus and its consequences for education. In addition to the research that provides new insights into the risk of covid19, particularly young people, theres also more Information Available about the effectiveness of education in a remote environment. How does this information and research inform your plans for safely reopening schools this fall . Sure, as a mom of two children who is doing the same balance as many families, understanding how difficult it is to both do your job and certainly to support learning at home, and i think we have heard that from parents across the country, our teachers have been working incredibly hard. Our principals and superintendents have been working incredibly hard to do what they can in a remote environment, but nothing replaces the relationship and quality of education that happens between a teacher and his or her children in the classroom. Thats where this really wonderful learning takes place, so our efforts and supports have been certainly to provide remote options for staff and students who need them, but knowing that the most highquality education happens in the classroom for students at all levels, but particularly those who are most vulnerable and in our youngest grades. Again, thank you. Thank you for what tennessee is doing. Thank you for your leadership. I am so incredibly impressed to hear your emphasis on the students. I believe that in many cases, thats being lost in this discussion about not reopening schools. And that is what are the needs of the individual students. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle continually talk about the need for the personal approach to all students. We need to keep that in mind in all of the decisions we make. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you very much, ms. Fox. I now recognize ms. Schrier for five minutes, please. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses. I very much appreciate this testimony, and i want to tell you that i am speaking from the standpoint of being a pediatrician, so theres no question that i have the students best interest in mind. Im also speaking to you as a parent with type i diabetes, so i have the interests of other parents with preexisting conditions or grandparents at home in mind, and im speaking to you as the daughter of a teacher. So i am looking at all of these things. And i would just remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that you cant open schools without adults, and also that kids dont live in a vacuum. We do know that kids are better served in school. I experienced remote education with my son, and frankly, it was pretty lousy. And so we all want our children we all want our children back in school. We know kids need nutrition and childcare through school. We also know that other countries wisely have not opened becausetes are surging that essentially dooms these efforts to failure. This justto spread as readily as adults. While we know that children tend symptomatic or mildly symptomatically, they dont live in a vacuum. This comes down to the level of Community Spread. Is is there aion number, either developed by states or it would be nice to have a National Number that says if levels are below some number, then it is considered a safe prevalence to open our schools, or is that based would it be helpful to have that information from the cdc, since different communities have Different Levels of disease . Thank you for the question. Can you hear me ok . Number is oneve measure a lot of folks are using to make these determinations. It is an incredibly comfy collated currently complicated calculus. It is done at the local level, the state level. States are tracking their numbers differently. They have different benchmarks for how they are making these decisions. They are complicated. R0 is one number. Of point out the rate rise of the disease, the number of hospitalizations in a community. There are quite a few metrics people are using. Cdc is working on the best ways to make these decisions. It is a complicated discussion between cdc, local, and state Public Health as well as schools and educators, because it is very contextual. It seems to me it would be helpful to have that number. Inform thewould administration as well that we know different communities are in different situations. To blanketly say all schools should open is irresponsible. That kind of data would be helpful. My next question is about Remote Learning. Our experience with that was very substandard. Perhapse other methods that could bring the digital divide, because we cant bridge the digital divide, because we cant get broadband to everyone. And otherand l. A. Places where theyve got an agreement with us where we provide television opportunities for students and families, but we need to do better on learning at home 2. 0. 1. 0, we were just putting things together. Now we are training teachers on the tools and content. That is why buying more time will help us have quality instruction. Are there supersmart teachers who could basically spoonfeed this to the other School Districts so each teacher is not inventing the wheel on their own . We have a presentation. We want to know which ones are effective. Thank you very much. You have five minutes. Chairman, thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you to all members of the panel on this very timely and incredibly important discussion. You know, first of all, i want to say thank you publicly to all of the life essential employees out there. Thats kind of a term thats taken on new meaning in this pandemic. But thank you to the folks who show up to work each and every day of different ages and diversity and in grocery stores, convenience stores, manufacturing, making the personal protective equipment, the other things that we deem as being needed, our first responders, our health care providers. And so i want to say, do you think that teachers fall into that category as life essential, and i guess if why or why not . Thank you for that question. And i come proudly from a family of teachers. Many of whom are starting school this year. And so when i think about what is critically important to the foundation of our country, Public Schools are part of that. It is the fabric of who we are and how we educate our children. So certainly, when we think about the impacts of children going to school, and being able to live whatever lives they choose, when we think about how families rely on schools and certainly when we think about opening up our economy so that families can get back to work, we need to be able to provide those options to all of our parents so that whether they choose to educate their children remotely or choose to send their kids to school, that option is available, and so i think its incredibly important we provide those. I would agree. Im a big fan of teachers. I think theyre life essential. Its the immediate, intermediate and long term educational benefits. The mandatory reporter role, a lot of these kids are sheltering at home with Distance Learning with their abusers, unfortunately. Its being able to get access to nutrition that they need. So i would encourage i think our School Districts need flexibility. And the cdc guidelines specify that. And talk about cohorting, talk about different suggestions, just guidance. And as a recovering school board member, i found that very helpful and meaningful as i read and digested that. And i think they need the flexibility to be able to perform their function as life essential employees. I really am appreciative of the things i have heard about students with disabilities. I think those students in particular are very vulnerable, and its very, very difficult, and we need to figure out a better hybrid. Distance learning i dont think is working for those students. And theyre really at risk. You know, a student i havent heard talked about, but obviously, the chairman knows, i get pretty passionate about career and Technical Education. Career and Technical Education is preparing our future life essential employees. The people i named off here are kind of career and Technical Education fields. Our School Districts need to take a look at keeping that in mind, because those are handson. And when these kids graduate, theyre going to be life essential employees during the next pandemic. Unfortunately, these things travel at the speed of jet airplanes, in hours and days, not months and years anymore. So to short them in their education so that theyre not prepared with the skills to be able to go into the workforce, to be there to provide for us in the future. So any thoughts in terms of how we could do a better job for those students who are in career and Technical Education tracks . I appreciate the question, especially in this room. We have our cte week this week, actually. So i think about gibson county, i think about kingsport city, about clarksville, montgomery. These are districts in tennessee tackling those problems. One of the things from the superintendent is how can the state fund curriculum hat can be used whether the student is in school or in a remote environment, and going back and forth. We know classrooms may need to close throughout the year. The state is looking to invest in those types of remote to classroom opportunities for students, and we are partnering, and again, cross Agency Support is critical, partnering with other state agencies working closely together under governor lees administration so our Work Force Development group can support our schools to still provide those opportunities. Within months, hopefully, or hopefully maybe weeks after these students graduate from these career and Technical Education programs, some of them will be going to work still in the middle of this pandemic. So we need to figure out how we do in classroom, whether its whatever the skills are, whatever that area, so they can do that safely as a future life essential employee. So i would argue that Distance Learning and modules, they need to be in those settings. Because theyre going to be working in those settings. And education is a lot more than just a diploma. Its about really preparation to work and survive and succeed in the world that we live in. Thank you. Without losing her place on the question list, i will pass on at this time and recognize ms. Davis for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to all of you who are present with us, but also very active in this discussion. We appreciate that greatly. I wanted to turn to dr. Oleary, because your testimony suggests that schools that are forced to delay inperson openings need more resources, not less. And yet, the proposals that were hearing seem to suggest that if schools are not able to do that because theres a fire raging in their community, the virus, that they should be not given any resources in order to fund them. What do you think about that proposal . Yeah, thank you for that question. I think just to put it in context, imagine a community where theres a lot of virus circulating, and you have lots of different people being infected. It is inevitable that the virus sorry, i think there might be a band with issue. Bandwith issue. Its inevitable the virus will get into schools and the schools will shut down. It doesnt make since where theres Widespread Community spread to open schools, no matter how many mitigation efforts are in place, to withhold funding for those schools because they cant open. They cant open in those circumstances and those decisions need to be made with local and state Public Health. One of the issues thats been raised is you need the conductivity for students to even have a fighting chance to be able to not keep continuing to fall back, and we know for all children that they did. You were not willing to really answer my colleagues question about whether schools need more resources, but, i mean, if you were asked along with other education commissioners throughout the country if you wanted more resources, if you felt it would help the children in your School District, in your state, what would you say . Would you say no, dont worry, im okay, i dont need anything . I would say absolutely we want more resources to open schools. What i dont want to say is that we will make decisions for 147 very unique districts and counties simply by waiting for the federal government. Tennessee will protect our own, and we will certainly allow our superintendents to make decisions that are right for their own communities, but certainly, we welcome and need Additional Resources to do so with complete safety in mind. Could you respond as well, as the dallas superintendent . Because i know that you certainly are in a position as a superintendent to see that the city of dallas itself has lost, what, nearly 33 million in tax revenue in 2020, and that impacts the schools, am i correct . Yes, absolutely. It impacts us significantly. Sales tax are down in the state of texas, all revenues are down in the state of texas. We are going to hit this pitfall. More importantly, back to your original question about operation connectivity, we have even asked the fcc to relax some of their requirements so we could use some of the resources to use them to knock down the front door and have families access connectivity. So yes, we definitely need Additional Resources, and if you think about high poverty states, where title i and special ed dollars, those are well within the federal governments purview, and those would be extremely welcome during this time. Would you like to see congress address that issue . Yes, i would love to see congress address that issue. You have already done it in the house. We would like for the senate to consider it. We thank you for the cares act, but we think that the heroes act has a potential to significantly help districts throughout the country. I want to go back to dr. Oleary for a second, because one of the issues thats been raised is that School Districts have to develop protocols in order to deal with the ifs. What if one day, you know, right after school is open, you have several teachers that come down with covid . What if you find that in a classroom, children have symptoms are there protocols out there that the Pediatric Association is dealing with, is trying to suggest to schools . Do you think that what the cdc has done has helped people with those specific kind of protocols . Because that could be really a very dangerous situation. Yeah, those protocols are being actively worked on as we speak. And including for members of the academy, cdc is working on that. State and local health departments, absolutely. Thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from wisconsin for five minutes. Thank you. Glad to be here. It seems to be that children spread covid19 less rapidly than adults, is that so . According to our department of health in tennessee, yes. Can you expand on some of that claim and explain why those aspects need to be looked at when determining whether to send kids back to school or not, the effect of that . Sure, again, pointing to the exceptional leaders we have in tennessee who are responsible for our School Districts, there are a lot of conversations about prioritizing our younger students. Our superintendents are being incredibly creative about that, because we know the spread of the virus is less in our younger students, so trying to think about different options that allow for us to bring especially that age group back into school and spread out social distancing, etc. So thats a priority in tennessee. We have seen that reflected in our schools. Sometimes i think that our whole bureaucracy in dealing with this thing doesnt look outside the United States enough. And at least the papers in front of me claim that countries like switzerland and the netherlands are saying that Children Play even a minor role in spreading the virus. Have you heard that . Do you think switzerland and the netherlands are right in that or not . You know, i dont think i would be able to speak specifically on any kind of Health Conditions or studies that have been done there, but i know when were looking at the best practices from other countries, what we are seeing is there are solutions we can put into place in our schools that protect students and staff and allows children to continue to be educated in person as long as we provide them with the resources necessary to do so safely, and thats what we have been focusing on. One suggestion in wisconsin, apparently is a fourday week and a fifth day for cleaning, but kids on a twoday rotation. Have you heard about that and could you comment on that . Sure. We have a district who is looking at similar options around bringing students in on adays, bdays, and allowing for alternate classrooms to be cleaned on the on and off days. Frankly, well be doing the same thing at the department of education with our desks and office space. Were looking at that. Were also seeing districts bring in younger students and have High Schoolers do more remote aday, bday. Were seeing the same alternate scheduling to allow for disinfecting procedures to take place. Youre kind of following whats going on nationwide. In wisconsin so far, at least whenever we put this together, nobody under age 20 has died of the covid. Is that true nationwide, or is it restricted to people with Serious Health problems . Could you elaborate on the level of sickness for people under 20 . I can speak in generalities. I would probably defer to a health professional. When we are thinking about risk factors, were making sure that depending on the age range, and that goes from students all the way to staff, they have what they need, including personal protective equipment to keep themselves safe. Certainly i have relatives in wisconsin, so special near and dear to my heart to make sure they are safe in that school as well. Well get their name and look out for them, well do that after the hearing. Some of my colleagues and National Pundits have said putting kids in school, if you let the kids in school, youre putting their health at risk. Nobody i know talks about reopening schools without making sure that kids are not at risk. But do you think the conversations should really be about reopening the schools safely, and how it will benefit children . I do. Especially because, you know, i was talking with a superintendent yesterday morning in pickett county. She has very few cases in her county. Her district wants to open up inperson. That is certainly different than Metro Nashville or Shelby County that has a different population and skyrocketing cases. Local communities need to make local choices, but the conversation needs to be how we do so safely. Ill give you another question, im not sure it exactly applies to schools, but last week when i was home, i looked at what used to be called a sheltered workshop. People who used to be called handicapped working there. I have a special interest in people like that. We had a shutdown in wisconsin. These folks couldnt come to work for three months. When they came back, the staff could tell it was psychologically damaging to them, not having a school to go to. The social setting as well. Could you comment on any special concerns we would have or special damage that would happen if you have people with special needs who are not able to go to school and see their peer group . Is it especially damaging to people like that . I have a strong concern, especially when we think about our vulnerable populations including our children with disabilities. The primitive education put forward a one milliondollar technology grant. It is not enough to serve children in remote settings and we need to bring certain students in to provide that inperson instction. It is incredibly important to them and their health. At this time i would like to ms. Shalala for five minutes. Are you on remotely . We will move on. Ms. Wilson of florida . California, sir . Ill move on. New york. Okay. Hes on the floor. I am here. I am sorry, i was searching for my mute button. You have five minutes, sir. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you for holding one of the most important hearings that you could hold. As we look towards the fall, this is a time of year when students and teachers and parents are happily preparing for the return to school, setting up classrooms and ready to welcome students, parents and children Gathering School supplies, reviewing schedules and getting excited about the first day of the school year. Nothing is normal this time of year. Principals and teachers are strapped about providing a safe environment with limited resources. Parents worry a child will be exposed to the virus in the classroom and how to balance work and daycare if you are in a district where schools provide education remotely through Distance Learning. We can all agree we want students back in the classroom, but only under safe conditions and that rushing to do this is terribly inappropriate. We need to safely open schools. To follow Public Health guidelines. That is what dr. Fauci has said repeatedly. If the administration were serious about getting students into classroom, we need more meaningful action and resources devoted toward schools to help them reopen. Rather than blocking the cdc from testifying before the house from fear of what they will say, lets get a commitment to providing clear guidance for industries that repeatedly are for assistance. Calling for assistance. Lets utilize the defense production act. I am proud we have shown this body we have shown this country we are serious. There is nothing we want to sustain about the situation. To act. We need to act. This is not a rainy day, this is a torrential downpour. That is why i think the heroes act was so important. From ouror actions colleagues has been incredibly frustrating, especially when so much is at stake. I think we are on the right side of history and will continue the important conversations. I think the president and secretary divorce have devos have demanded schools fully reopen in person. I think that is wrongheaded. I wanted to ask dr. Oleary. As a followup to the conversation my colleague asked about testing first of all, someone said transmission of the , althoughg children asymptomatic, could put teachers and adults at risk. I want you to talk about that. Could you comment someone said the transmission was less among children. Could you talk about the science of that and whether or not that is actually true . Thank you for that question. So were learning more every day about this issue. At this point it appears that younger children appear to be less likely to get infected and less likely to spread it, but that by no means means that they cant get it and they cant spread it. That some dont get sick. Yes, they are at lower risk. Yes, they can get it and can spread it. Can i just just quickly a clarification. The reason its harder to spread is because theyre less likely to get it in the first place or is there something for those children who contracted it, it is harder for them to transmit . It is two pieces, right . Yeah. It appears to be both. We can talk another time about why that is. Younger kids appear to be less likely to get it and less likely to transmit it. So i also wanted to go to the question of testing, because you seem to suggest testing of students was not a viable option, but is that simply because we dont have the capacity, or demonstrated the capacity of the federal government to ramp up testing and make it available . Or are there other issues with testing students . Clearly if one student tests positive, you would want to get them out of the classroom and quarantine them at home, even if asymptomatic but contracted the virus. I am talking about asymptomatic students. We do want to test the symptomatic to the extent thats possible. Just to be clear sorry, has my time expired . Thank you. Me i recognize i would like to thank the chairman and Ranking Member for holding this critically important hearing today on how our nation can move forward with safely reopening our schools. Additionally i want to thank the witnesses for participating today and for offering their valued perspective and expertise. As a father of two and a proud grandfather, im extremely concerned about the longterm impacts that covid19 has had on students being out of the classroom for months at a time. One Company Projected when the impacts of covid19 are considered, students should fall an average of seven months behind academically. This is simply unacceptable. We owe every generation of students a wellrounded education that encompasses the educational, social and mental benefits that come with attending school. Additionally, i commend congress for working together to provide schools with billions in dollars for relief. The elementary and secondary School Emergency relief fund authorized under the cares act provided 13. 2 billion in formula funding directly to states and School Districts to help schools respond to covid19. My home state, pennsylvania, received almost 524 million for local educational agencies to address the impact of covid19. However, it is my understanding not one state has spent the entirety of their funding under the cares act. While the pennsylvania General Assembly appropriated much of the money, theres still about 1. 3 billion unspent in the pennsylvania treasury. Across pennsylvanias 12th Congressional District, districts are approving reopening plans for the fall. Working in conjunction with local school boards, administrators and state officials. One central pennsylvania School District surveyed parents and found that 60 of the respondents favored return to inperson schooling this fall. I was thrilled to read this morning that the School District located in pennsylvanias 12th Congressional District outlined a thorough three educational phases plan to reopen schools in the fall that include a hybrid of inperson learning and Remote Learning based on the level of transmission risk. Today im eager to hear about how remaining cares funding can be utilized to safely open schools and learn more about the specific actions schools are taking to make sure students, teachers, staff and families can attend School Safely and in person this fall. I look at schools, and when schools across the country closed in march, scientists and policymakers alike had limited information as to the implications of the coronavirus. And what they were for children. Although there are lingering questions regarding the novel coronavirus, one thing most scientists agree on is the risks to adolescents are extremely low, thus it seems you can reopen School Safely for students while protecting the staff. Doesnt this knowledge make the decision to open schools a little bit easier . Thank you for the question, and i think that bringing both of your really important points together, one may look when we look at our cares funds and how School Districts are choosing to spend that on technology and safety and disinfecting equipment so we can open. We know there has to be a priority providing every child with that opportunity. Ive spent my career supporting those students in the most vulnerable populations because education is such a critical vehicle for them being able to support themselves for the rest of their lives. Thats our focus in tennessee. It certainly we know protecting our adults allows us to open schools in a way that is safe and supportive in local communities and that will continue to be our priority. Thank you. Just to followup, how is your Agency Working to make sure School Leaders and personnel as well as parents have the facts and not invoking fear and rhetoric to help make decisions about school . Yeah. That communication is always so challenging. As you are well noting. One of the things were doing is had an Educator Survey 25,000 teachers in the state of tennessee, took a survey through our partnership with vanderbilt to be able to know what they were challenged by. We will release a number of parent supports and resources to communicate. One will be a family website and partnership with tribeca to be able to communicate directly to parents about what the information is and what their choices are that they can make for their own children. Thank you. I have a question about how kids transmit the coronavirus. You just got done talking to one of my colleagues about that. We know it transmits differently with adolescents and kids arent as risk to transmit. Is that true . There does appear be a difference between younger and older children, yes. How does it transmit differently than the flu, or is it similar to that . It is different. Thank you. Now now id like to recognize ms. Shalala for five minutes. Are you on remotely . Shes on the floor. Chairman of the full committee, mr. Scott. You have five minutes. You know, weve heard comments about desirability of opening schools. Of course thats how you get better academic achievement, socializing skills, access to nutrition and less child abuse and not opening the economy without reopening schools. Of course we want to reopen the schools, if it can be done safely. Dr. Oleary, i ask you a question about ventilation. Four in 10 School Districts found need to update or replace hvac systems, heating and ventilation systems in at least half of their schools. Why is ventilation so important . Yeah. I dont want to pretend to be an environmental engineer, but it does appear that ventilation matters with the spread of this particular virus. You know, for example, we know that the virus transmits much less in outdoor environments than indoor environments. So circulation within classrooms is important, but thats you know, another one of the reasons that schools need resources to address ventilation. Many ofone example of the reasons why schools need resources trying to reopen. Thank you. Moving forward, the introductory bill, we have significant funding for School Construction that could take care of that. Dr. Oleary, if were not going to test all the students on day one to know who is infected and who isnt, you have to assume that students coming from the community all into one place, somebodys going to be infected. What is the plan to deal with the student who is beginning to show symptoms . What should be the protocol at that point . That speaks to the issue why we need to act across the u. S. Now to drive infections down as much is possible with Face Coverings, physical distancing, etc. If we can drive numbers down as a country, then that issue will become much, much less of a problem. Statistically, there statistically, there will be children who will present in school and show symptoms that theyre infected. After they show symptoms, that means theyve been in school for all of those days, asymptomatic, or presymptomatic, spreading the disease around. What should be the protocol when you find someone who is symptomatic . Yeah. Those protocols are being developed right now at the, you know, federal, state district and even school level, and so there are i mean, we could talk for an hour about the protocols, but basically what they are trying to do is screen students to identify who might be ill, and strong encouragement for parents to keep their kids home when they have any symptoms including fever, runny nose, etc. There are screening protocols put in place such as having an app or some kind of a system that parents can screen prior to sending their child to school. There are difficulties in trying to do it at school. For example, lining up to get their temperature taken, that could present more issues than it solves. It comes down to the individual school. If you wait for the symptoms to occur, it is too late. If someone is found to be positive do you shut the school down . The various plans coming into shape usually involve cohorting students so that if someone is identified as having been infected with covid19, it is only the people they are in close contact with. It depends on the number of students infected, etc. It is not a simple as saying if you get one case in a school, you shut the school down. Should we have nurses in schools . Could you repeat the question . Should we have nurses in every school . I would love to have a fulltime school nurse in every school. School nurses have been shown to improve Health Outcomes across the board. Being in schools unfortunately is not the reality in the u. S. Thank you. I think by the time i get the next question in, my time will expire. I yield back. Thank you. All right. I will go to dr. Murphy. You have five minutes. Your mic . Thank you. Technology is wonderful. Thank you. My first question is for dr. Oleary. I was reading a couple Journal Articles last evening. We talked about antibody immunity and cellular immunity. A lot of studies talking about antibody immunity waning after several months and that tcell immunity is what is going to get hold of this. This looks like why children are by all means relatively spared from this compared to adults thymuscause of their gland that burns out as we get older. Kids are our biggest concern and putting them behind in their education is why were all here to try to correct that. Id like to know what you truly believe is the relative risk of our children in the state of north carolina, weve had three fatalities in kids under age 24 all with comorbid diseases. Lets give a real, true picture of what the true risk is for our kids under age 18 as we move forward. Give me the r0. The things you truly believe are kids at risk and not just hypothetical. Id truly like to look what we have learned so far from the korean and german studies. What are we truly looking at for the risk of our kids as we go back to school . Yeah. You asked several complicated questions. Forget the tcell immunity one. That is pretty heavy. Lets just talk about the true, relative risk for our kids. What we have seen so far in the u. S. Is that kids are less sorry, around the world kids appear to be less impacted from covid19 than adults. That is fairly clear. In terms of the actual numbers, i am still trying to get a handle on that, because we dont have a good sense of the denominator of children who have been infected. We also, you know the understanding of the biology of the virus is rapidly evolving. Some states are suggesting that the overall risk for fatality is less than, for children, i should say, is less than several other things that we commonly accept on a daily basis in society such as trauma, influenza, the things that we that happen all the time. Sorry to interrupt. I want to get one other question in. Just from what i was reading last night, the relative risk is 1 , 1 in 10,000. If you look at the number of kids who die from flu in the United States, it is going to seemingly be a fairly comparable number and we dont shut down our schools every year. I just want to take the fear factor out of this. I just want us to deal with the nonpolitics, with the true part of this, that we can put our kids back to School Safely and we need to stop the fear mongering. We need to get our kids back on track. Anyway, thank you. In that same line, this question is for dr. Schwinn. I had a great telephone town hall with the School Administrators from our district this morning and we were concerned about all the details which we all are. I wonder if you could speak to liability . Ive put through an open schools responsibility act basically holding our School Institutions free from frivolous lawsuits because its one less thing they have to worry about and wondered if you could speak to that. Conversationngoing in tennessee also well and our legislature is looking to pick it back up in august. Talking to superintendentsm among the many concerns they have one is around how to ensure they can make the best decisions possible for children and for their staff, and i think liability is one of those concerns that is getting into the conversation outside of the outcomes were driving towards. I think it is a worthwhile conversation and one we are at both thehave federal and state level. I yield back. Yes, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Five minutes, please. You holding this hearing, which is the question of the day for our country in many different respects. This morning the department of labor reported 1. 4 million new unemployment filings which actually is the first time in three months that number has gone up. That really, unfortunately, validates what the chairman of the Federal Reserve has been saying since last may, that the cares act stimulus was inadequate in terms of addressing a whole host of issues in the country needs more fiscal stimulus. The most efficient way to do that, to accomplish that is to provide more funding for state and local assistance, because that, again, will circulate into the economy the quickest and will enable us to solve the problem, which were trying to figure out here this morning. How to safely reopen schools. Again, i think its clear. Both sides can stipulate to the fact that opening up schools is highly beneficial, and its a goal we all share. The question is, how do we do it safely . A couple days ago, the secretary of education in an interview actually made a comment that we should open schools, because children are actually stoppers, and that was the term she used, of covid19. Which when asked by the press afterwards what she meant by that, the department of education cited a study in germany which again echoed some of the comments here this morning about the fact young kids, particularly smaller kids dont transmit as much as older children or adults. But the researchers, when they were interviewed after the secretary made her comment, you know, were careful to point out that their results depict a situation with low infection rates after the initial transition peak is under control. If you do have rising infection rates, as in the u. S. , and this is a quote from the researchers in germany, putting people in close contact will obviously lead to transmission of respiratory viruses. So the question i wanted to ask dr. Oleary is just, thats sort of the issue we have to grapple with here. If there are parts of the country where infection rates are going up and the population in the population at large, the decision to reopen schools is a different one than in other parts of the country where infection rates are low or below the 1 positivity rate. Is that, you know, what the association of pediatricians, is that sort of your take in terms of evaluating, you know, this decision . That is absolutely correct. It varies depending on whats going on, and i think theres a lot of discussion of other countries, but what is rarely mentioned is the situation in all of these other countries where they attempted to reopen schools is vastly different than what we are seeing in most parts of the u. S. Yes, it is important to draw lessons from what we are doing in other countries, but cant just say they did it, we can too. You have to base it on the epidemiology. And the research the department relied on made that precise point, which is that youve got to deal with the overall population of a country or a region before you can sort of extrapolate from that, that it is all clear in terms of reopening schools. Again, in israel, they, again, had a very bad experience in terms of School Reopenings and the number of students who became infected as well as almost 700 Staff Members and had to, again, hunker down in terms of trying to respond to that. Again, the washington post, you know, did an analysis of the secretarys statement. They interviewed researchers as well as other resources and did their pinocchio test, which gave the secretary four pinocchios for her comments. Id like to enter that story in to the record and, again, the notion we all want schools to reopen, but lets get a shared baseline of science. And not cherry pick in terms of studies that, again, i think just create more confusion and misunderstanding than really a shared how we solve this problem. And with that i yield back. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Im here. Can you hear me . Thank you, mr. Chairman, and to all of our witnesses today. This is an important conversation. I have had so many discussions with parents, students, teachers, school counselors, psychologists about their struggles over the last several months with Distance Learning and we know how important it is to reopen schools. We know that. We also know the decision to reopen has to be based on science and has to make the health and safety of our students, teachers, staff and families a top priority. I want to follow up on a question one of my colleagues suggested that the flu kills more students than covid. I did just read two days ago a nine month old in minnesota who died of covid. Dr. Oleary, can you respond to that, that flu kills more students than covid, but we didnt close schools . Why is it different . Yeah. I think there is some background noise, but i think influenza is among one of the severe illnesses in children. I want to point out were still learning every day about covid19 and its impacts on children. In childrens hospitals have taken care of very Sick Children and unfortunately many of us have seen children with covid19 who have died. To minimize the risk of covid19 is a mistake. We need to put it in context. Its not that kids dont get sick. Thank you. I appreciate that, and ive been very concerned. We havent had a National Strategy to curb the virus. We have had rhetoric about forcing schools to open and their funding threatened, which is completely inappropriate. No school should be threatened into reopening before it is safe for them to do so and it varies by districts and across the country. So when schools can safely reopen, they need our help. Our Public Schools and districts, they need funding to make sure they can equitably keep everybody in the School Building safe. I know that heroes act does make a robust investment of 58 billion in k12 schools. I hope the senate will pass that. We need to make sure that our schools can open safely. Dr. Oleary, another question. The reopening guidance from the American Academy of pediatrics makes clear schools must anticipate and address a wide range of are Mental Health needs for both students and staff as they prepare to open. What Mental Health supports will students and staff need as they return to school, and what does the academy recommend to prepare teachers to address the Mental Health needs of their students . That is a very important question. We are already vastly underfunded for Mental Health support across the country. Theres a shortage of Mental Health providers, access is a real problem, and i think schools should be planning right now. I know a lot of them already are for how to handle that. They are working within their own communities to work with Behavioral Health specialists, child psychologists and child psychiatrists to meet the needs of those students. But it is a real problem. It is an ongoing problem that didnt start with the covid19 pandemic and absolutely needs to be addressed. It is exacerbated, of course. How have schools and districts meaningfully engaged with families to learn about what went right and what went wrong with Distance Learning . How are School Systems involving families in planning for the next school year to make sure reopening plans incorporate their feedback . With parents. Ate we contact our teachers directly. They have been honest with us about what did and didnt work. We have Mental Health specialists we are bringing back to our schools. We need support. Our teachers may not be ready to do that. That is a big fiscal load on our district. Thank you so much. Before i yield back, i want to follow up on the concerns raised about testing of students. With apologies to anyone who is eating lunch, there has been promising work done on wastewater testing as an Early Warning system. I dont know if you are familiar with that testing, but i think we need to look at always we make sure our School Buildings are safe for our students and the adults who work in them and for families. Are you aware of the work being done on wastewater . Yes. That is one of many strategies. My time has expired. I yield back. Going once. Ms. Underwood. I can see you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate the time today and your indulgence in allowing me to participate in these proceedings. Local School Administrators in my district and across the country are weighing quickly difficult decisions. The concerns of parents, and above all, the risk to the health and ultimately lives of students and staff. In my outreach to schools, the number one concern i hear is funding. I will continue to fight until the necessary funding we need that was passed by the house in the heroes act two months ago reaches our schools that are desperately needing those resources. I am so disappointed we are not able to hear today from the Administration Officials leading the Public Health response to reopening schools. I am grateful to the witnesses here and to our educators across the country. Decisions about what school will look like in the fall should be guided by Public Health experts. Those experts must be allowed to make recommendations based on the best data and science, and not pressure from this administration. As a pediatrician with childrens held in mind, what should cdc be relying on in guidance for schools . Thank you. I agree with everything you just said. It does need to be in conjunction with state and Public Health. Aspects work in various with a lot of folks at cdc. They are working very hard now, working on guidance. They are working with state health departments, local health departments, as well as physicians, etc. , trying to develop this guidance. I also recognize that these decisions are best made at the local level. Mr. Chairman, at this time i would like to ask for unanimous consent to intermittent testimony from the president of the National Association of School Nurses into the record. Without objection, so ordered. According to the testimony, less than 40 of schools have a fulltime nurse on staff. A quarter of schools have no nurse at all. School nurses are critical in ensuring the health of our kids in normal times. Can you tell us why it is so important to have a Health Care Professional like a nurse on staff for schools during a pandemic . School nurses do an amazing job of improving the health of students in schools across the board. There have been a number of studies showing the positive outcomes of having a school nurse within schools. In the schools where there is a fulltime school nurse, in general children have Better Outcomes than where there is none. I support fully Funding School nurses within our schools. And School Nurses connect with local Public Health infrastructure, right . If there is some thing going on in the School Building, that nurse can flag it, help the students, help the families. I have certain teachers in my district at higher risk of covid19 due to their age or health status. They are worried this will put their health at risk. One in three teachers in the country is over the age of 50. What precautions do we need to be considering to protect the health of older or medically vulnerable teachers and staff . Physician, we our careers toe the lives of children. Teachers are no different. They are devoting their careers. We need to support our teachers. We need to do everything we can to make sure they are safe, that they are able to return to school. The funding to help them do that is going to be crucial to successfully reopen schools safely. Funding in particular for ppe. This administration has not invoked the full power of the defense production act to meet the of ppe. In a Homeland Security Committee Hearing i participated in yesterday, pete gaynor says there are no plans to invoke it to provide schools with face masks. School districts are often very worried about how they are going to pay for their ppe and other necessary supplies for the entirety of the school year. We need to relieve them of that burden. The districts have all the authority at their disposal to do so. We are going to continue to call for the full implementation of the defense production act. Thank you for being here and i yield back. Thank you. He was here earlier. Thank you. Five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for having me at this hearing. Thank you to our witnesses. It has certainly been an honor to hear the exchange back and forth, particularly as we move closer to the start of the school year. We are all looking for certainty. If we recall, when this pandemic was declared by the world health organization, they projected a year to a year and a half. Here we are in the middle of it. It is uncertain. It is trying. It is safe to say we all want it to be over. We all want to get back to School Safely. I have been on the phone with my School Administrators, our superintendents, our educators, our parents aroundtheclock since the first time school was canceled. It was supposed to be two weeks, and then it was the rest of the school year. We honored and recognized the class of 2020, these incredible seniors. We look to the classes coming up and those who are juniors and sophomores and had wondering if theyre going to get that letter. Students are all abilities who need that iep, the white house the other day said were going to have to learn to live with this, and i know weve been getting asked some scientific questions here that are, that are being asked of you that really shouldnt be being asked of you, to our incredible witnesses whose do have ph. D. S and great backgrounds and we know you, like me, like to listen to the scientists. All right. We want the answers. Were in the race for the, the information, but yet the white house said weve got to learn to live with this. And it dawned on me, mr. Chair, as weve been hearing today the questions and answers about what has been asked of our educators across this country, our Public Schools for so long . Can you accept the unacceptable . Can you accept Unfunded Mandates . Can you accept the threat of gun violence in your schools . I think its fair to say that the American Public is tired of accepting the unacceptable. And were here today as a legislative body to legislate, to partner, to join forces with you. I i i heard mr. Kelly talk about, that the c. A. R. E. S. Act funding in pennsylvania hasnt all been utilized. In michigan, weve utilized our c. A. R. E. S. Act funding, struck a deal with our, with our state capital for School Funding for this year but were moving into fiscal year 2021 and i just this morning before 9 00 a. M. Was on with the head of the tricounty alliance for oakland county, wayne county and mccomb, and i said, okay. I struck a deal. And how are you feeling . Check in with him all the time. I call him before i know hes really beginning his workday and he said, yes, struck a deal but still have this 750 per pupil budget shortfall in michigan. We want to get you safely to our goals and i want to hear what you need. Five minutes is not enough, but, dr. Hinojosa, id love to hear what the primary concerns of our principals are and how we can best serve you and meet your needs. Thank you, sir. Yes, well our principals primary concern is how do we manage the inevitable of having said the teachers have all the tools they need to deliver the best quality for the students in a safe environment. Thats the biggest concern, and they want to, weve missed our kids since march, and unless we have a way to deliver that instruction safely, thats possibly their biggest concern and its going to take resources to make that happen. Resources. I applaud you for saying that. We recognize that. And we do also agree that we need flexibility. We need to empower, support and understand your needs, and we want to continue this dialogue Going Forward. Youre all heroes for coming in today, and participating in this hearing, answering our questions and we look forward to supporting you Going Forward. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you. Ms. Lee . Ms. Lee . Hi, there. Sorry about that. I had to unmute. You have five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and i want to thank all of our witnesses today. You know, ive sat here and listened today about the back and forth that if you want to open up schools safely, clearly you dont value inperson learning. Lets be clear. We totally agree and honor and respect and need to have students in the classroom learning one on one, or with a teacher. That is the ultimate goal, but we also need to do it in a way where we do not needlessly risk lives. You know, and dr. Schwinn, i applaud your commitment to opening schools. I find it a little odd that youre not acknowledging the necessity of federal support to be able to do so. You know, i represent the state of nevada. Weve seen a 1. 2 billion dollar shortfall, likely cutting over 156 million in k12 funding, and so we know that whatever option that were looking at, and a lot of them arent great options, that we need they will require Additional Resources, and honestly, to me, it requires extensive testing, and i want to point out that in tennessee youre one of nine states that has doubled, more than doubled the testing needed thats been estimated by three Public Health organizations that would be needed to control your outbreak, and the fact that tennessee basically fronted the cost of these tests so that anyone who wanted it could get it. With, in tennessee, officials now acknowledge that they are hoping and they are banking on the federal government paying for those tests. So to me, the lack of testing in this country is number one, why we have rampant unemployment, but number two, why we are faced with this awful decision on how we reopen schools, whether we treat our students and our teachers like guinea pigs, by rushing to open our schools without proper resources, or we keep trying to do Remote Learning, which we know does not do our families and our students the justice that we deserve. Dr. Hinojosa, i wanted to ask you, you know, youre in a predicament quite like the one were in, in nevada. Where dallas is facing an issue of nearly 33 million in lost revenue, which is certainly going to impact your schools. Can you Tell Congress and tell us how we can best address these revenue shortfalls, and, know, how we can best help you in your ability to reopen in the fall . Yes. For us to be opened for our biggest ask right now is to make sure we have Broadband Connectivity and devices so we can connect with our families. Also, what we do have, we have the ppe. Were good on that information, but need a lot more support Going Forward with how our special needs students get supported and title i is so critical. 92 of our students economically disadvantaged, and the funding that comes from the department of agriculture feeding our students. We feed all of our students two meals a day and its extremely important those opportunities continue for the long term. I mean, also the state took a lot of our money through the c. A. R. E. S. Act to supplant the revenue we get. We understand why they did it, because they have significant shortfalls and did it to shore up this year. Thats only this year. Going forward, theres going to be huge deficits in our budgets. It is a domino effect in every community in the state of texas if nothings done about it. Have you estimated what youve planned to receive from the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act in whats the delta between what you would estimate that you receive and what you actually think you need to open safely . 02 14 42 no. To open safely . No. Theres a lot of nuance in that, because under the c. A. R. E. S. Act we thought we would get 61 million and actually got 31 million. From h. E. R. O. E. S. Act we havent fully analyzed that and there are other bills in front of congress to help us with connectivity. It would significantly help everybody in texas. Then finally, i think were returning out of time here. Can you just walk us through what you have gone through with your local Public Health officials to talk about the Public Safety with respect to your reopening plans . Absolutely. Were in contact with our local Health Officials about what they expect from us. What we need to do and to keep everybody safe, and masks, buses, entryways and every item youve discussed is continuing with our local health leaders. Thank you, i yield. Thank you. I now recognize ms. Shalayva. Five minutes, please. Ms. Shalala. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Id like to ask dr. Oleary a question. Dr. Oleary, the commissioner Richard Cochran recently issue an emergency order aligning with the Trump Administration requiring all students to reopen fulltime for all five days. They are going to be mandated to meet a number of instructional hours for students. This past monday, florida the Teachers Union filed a lawsuit seeking to block the return to inperson classes, because we have Community Spread in florida. The virus is, in fact, out of control. And we know a safe environment to learn and grow children, risk developmental delays. In your view, what are the risks for students for increased exposure with their peers . Especially in a state like florida, which remains a hotspot of the virus . Isnt this students in School Every Day of the week, and what alternatives would you recommend . Yeah. Look, were all on the same page. Thank you for that question. We all want kids in school but we have to do it safely. And where the virus certainly as it is currently in florida, we have to be really cognizant of those issues, and, you know, one, its not safe. Students are going to get sick. Teachers are going to get sick. Staff is going to get sick. Thats number one. Number two, its not practical. If you open schools when the virus is circulating within the community, its inevitable its getting to the schools and you will just have to shut them down immediately and that is were all dealing with sort of whiplash from this whole thing, and so imagine schools, students going into school and then having to go back home the following week. And thats whats going to happen if you open schools in a place where the virus is widely circulating. Its inevitable. Thank you. If i might ask another question, a quick question about minority and lowincome students, clearly, and also disabled students, is there another strategy, perhaps tutors, that we should focus on to make sure that students who, in underserved areas actually are able to keep up with their work . You have to go online for the full core in the fall . If you had the resources, what would you do in terms of helping those students to catch up, in addition to their classroom work . Yes. We do have some assessments that tell us which students are the furthest behind and have the least contact. What i worry about is a lot of nonprofits that help us, like Reading Partners and tutors, are also not gotten donations from other people that, foundations that support them because theyre short on dollars. Its a double whammy on partners that need to help us with the Wraparound Services students need to have tutoring and reinforcement. An influx of resources would help not only us, but them to be able to provide the quality Nonprofit Services they offer to help and serve our students. It would be vitally important. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, ms. Shalala. At this time, ms. Macbeth agreed to let ms. Wild go. You have five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair and my colleague for her accommodation. My question is for ms. Leslie boggs. Ms. Boggs, when my children now in their 20s were in school, their dad and i panicked whenever we had to accommodate a single snow or sick day into our work schedule. So i have great sympathy for parents now as they try to figure out how they are going to manage their schedules. Not to mention being worried about their childrens health. So many of the discussions weve been hearing around School Reopening have focused on the perspectives of the administrate administrators, the teachers, and political leaders, quite frankly. I think its vital that we engage parents and families in the conversation on how to best and most safely reopen the schools, because its going to affect parents and families just as much as it affects students and school staff. And based on these conversations ive had with the parents in my district, there is a wide range of opinion about how schools should operate this fall. So my question to you, as president of the National Parent Teacher Association is do you think parents and ptas have been included enough in the local and National Conversations about ways to safely reopen the schools . And could you just comment on the benefits of incorporating the parents opinions and insight when creating these School Reopening plans . Thank you, for the question. Its interesting to see across our nation the affect to our parents who have been True Partners in their childrens education. I am hearing from several studies that parents have been involved in the conversation for reopening schools but also some School Districts are not including parents in the conversation and students. So i think in order for us to be completely am i not can you hear me . We can hear you. We can hear you. Yes, we can hear you. Okay. Theres something came up said id been muted. Whenever i see that parents are not included in the conversation, thats when youre going to see schools struggle with reopening, because theyre not listening to the, to the Critical Issues parents are concerned about. They do want to be back in school. And we know that for sure. But they are concerned about the safety and the reopening of those schools and the ability for them to do it appropriately. So i think thats why you have to see that conversation be there. Ive seen districts, even my own district here in ecisd, this administration does a Facebook Live every week, takes questions from parents. Has town halls with parents to see what they can do to help effectively reopening. The concern is if we dont reopen schools, again, is that homework gap or learning gap. What you see in districts that are lowincome districts, is that they are really hurting more, and what weve seen is, is theres really populations that bear the burden. Right . There are 37 of rural students. 21 of urban students lack Home Internet access. 35 of native american americans, 30 of black students and 26 of latino students have inadequate Internet Access at home compared to only 18 of white students. Weve got a disparity weve got to be worried about. When children come back to school, theyre going to be significantly needier than theyve ever been in the past and this is probably the biggest hurdle i think our Education System will have to overcome, its really assessing the needs for each student and theyre very different depending where you are. Thank you for that answer. I am a big believer we need to be establishing commissions or committees that consist of teachers, parents, other educators, physicians, both pediatricians and Infectious Disease and that we really need to get the political officials out of the discussion and yield to the sentiments of the people who are true stakeholders and who really know what theyre talking about when it comes to this, and youre clearly one of them. Thank you so very much for your responses. I yield back. Thank you. Thank you very much. And now i recognize ms. Macbeth for five minutes. Thank you, chairman sablan for holding this hearing today and thank you to all of our witnesses that have taken the time to really enlighten us as to whats really happening to the Public School system and our children. I think we can all agree the best place for our children to be educated is within the classroom. I dont think anyone here is denying that at all but our current pandemic prevents us from allowing that to happen safely. I will say very briefly, i was a woman who chose to home school her child, fourth through eighth grade, and i know that is not something each and every family is able to do. But i understand now that i think parents are feeling that theyre in a sense of home schooling, even with virtual schooling and that adds a lot of additional stresses, because of the covid19. So over the last few weeks ive actually will conversations within my own district with teachers and my School Board Members and trying to decipher, i wanted to hear from them, what is the best pathway forward, Going Forward, to reopen our schools . These conversations, they confirmed by deepest fears. I felt in my gut there was trouble. Our teachers and superintendents were really troubled by how they were going to best be able to appropriate funding and resources and tools to make sure that our children have the Global Education that they deserve. Our teachers basically are afraid of are infecting their students with covid19, and also they are afraid their students might inadvertently infect them, too. They said to me, clearly there was a lack of uniformed guidelines. This is when i, i represent the sixth Congress District of georgia. There was a lack of clear guidelines and guidance from our administration as to how our students and our teachers would be protected to return to the physical classroom. So i know were here today because of that lack of leadership. And if the administration had acted earlier to prevent the spread of covid19, i really believe we would not be in this predicament at this time. The h. E. R. O. E. S. Act passed two months ago yet were still waiting on the senate to take action on the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act. And the h. E. R. O. E. S. Act we know truly appropriates the funding, resources and tools to save lives. In each of my meetings with local School Officials, they each express need for ppe and School Infrastructure and hiring more Mental Health professionals in the school because that is definitely lacking. And the Mental Health of our students is very, very critical at this time. The h. E. R. O. E. S. Act does provide for increased funding for mental Health Services and it also gives the resources necessary to stop the spread of this very devastating disease. Ms. Boggs, if you would answer my question. You mentioned the result of the virginia pta Parent Survey in your testimony, which i have read. As we all know, the pandemic may be taking a toll specifically on the Mental Health of many, many of our students. Did the responses align to those concerns . The responses from that survey. I would say yes. I think they align with the concerns you heard and saw within the report. Parents are just overall concerned. But they want their children back in school, but they do understand that more than likely we will see different obstacles. The concern i have as leader of this association is ensuring everyone has options. And that parents are not putting themselves in a nowin situation. So we know that Distance Learning is not the best option. But if our schools arent safe, then were not giving them great options, are we . I think thats where i find your earlier comment on leadership during the crisis, leaders will be defined by what happens during this crisis. Weve seen the house do the right thing. I think the senate needs to understand that leadership needs to happen and our nation is waiting and our parents are watching. So i hope this answers your question. It does. Thank you very much. And mr. Inahosa, can you describe how the Dallas School district addresses the needs of marginalized students including students that have disabilities. Im very concerned about that. And we know those students, those demographics of students are disproportionately impacted by School Closures. Yeah. Thats one of our biggest concerns. We have a lot of robust plans for our traditional students. But our students with special needs by definition have an individual plan that has to be adjusted. Now many of the parents carry the burden of doing this at home without the trained professionals to do it. We also need to be concerned about their safety. They have to get within proximity to the students and certain conditions. So we are concerned about that. We need the resources thank you. Thank you so much for your answer. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. I would like to remind my colleagues that pursuant to materials for submission for the hearing record must be committed within 14 days following the last day of the hearing. So by close of business on august 6th, 2020, and preferably in microsoft word format. The material submitted must only a member of the subcommittee must submit materials for inclusion in the hearing record and documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents longer than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via an internet link you must provide to the Committee Clerk within the required timeframe. Please recognize one year from now the link might no longer work. Pursuant calls for solution on the accompanies regulations must be submitted electronically by emailing. Member offices are encouraged to submit materials to the inbox before the hearing or during the hearing at the time the member makes their request. The record will remain open for 14 days for Committee Practice for additional submissions after the hearing. Without objection, id like to enter the following statement into the record. A statement from director of Instructional Technology Public School system. Covid19 planning considerations, guidelines for School Reentry by the academy of american pediatricians. A plan to safely reopen Americas Schools and communities by the American Federation of teachers. All hands on deck initial guidance regarding reopening schools. And that actions steps for reopening schools by the aasa. Witness questions for the hearing record, i want to thank our witnesses for their participation today. Members of the subcommittee may have some additional questions for you and we ask the witnesses to please respond to those in writing. The hearing will be held open for 14 days in order to receive those response. And i remind my colleagues the pursuant to Community Practice questions for the hearing record , must be submitted to the Majority Committee staff or Committee Clerk within seven days. Id now like to recognize the distinguished Ranking Member for his closing statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank everyone for taking the time today to provide testimony about this important topic of safety safely reopening our schools this fall. I want to thank all of our witnesses for their input, and its much appreciated. Dr. , a special thanks to you. The coronavirus pandemic has tested our nations Public Schools in a way weve not seen in generations. We know that americans can turn this challenge into something positive for students by further enhancing how we educate our students. Quite frankly, we cannot fail a generation of school students. Children learn and thrive in school. Students deserve the option to go back to school with instruction, supports, services, and all this provided in person. And we all need to Work Together to focus on how to make it happen safely. Likewise, teachers and staff deserve thoughtful, thorough planning that protects their health and safety while at school. Weve touched on the many reasons that the ability to safely return to school is so important for our students and their families. Many students rely on schools for meals, the support of counselors, coaches, School Nurses, and the many other trusted adults that make up our school community. Families Economic Security has been negatively impacted by covid19 related to School Closures. We must remember that in the best of cases this spring, families were adapting to Remote Learning in their homes and making due with virtual connections to classmates and educators. But in many scenarios, families struggle without Critical Resources for their children. Now more than ever, we need to Work Together to help all children get the education they need to thrive. We have guidance from the cdc, the aap, and other experts outlining the considerations for returning to schools and the steps we need to take to do it safely. States like tennessee and georgia are setting great examples of the resilience and fortitude it takes to find solutions in the complex conditions were facing today and well continue to face this in the fall and in the future. No one takes the decision to reopen schools for students this fall lightly. It is with great consideration coupled with determination to do whats best for our nations students. Every student should be afforded the option for high quality instruction this fall. I want to thank, again, our witnesses for bringing thoughtful testimony before us today. I look forward to working with my colleagues and educators to ensure our students provided opportunities to be successful this fall and beyond. And mr. Chair, i yield back. Thank you, very much, mr. Allen. I also want to thank you again, all the witnesses for joining us and providing your expertise. I want to thank the members also for taking part in todays hearing. And todays hearing confirmed what families, school staff, education leaders, and Public Health experts across the country have been telling us for months. Schools need immediate and significant support to confront the unprecedented channels of providing students with safe and high quality education during this pandemic. President trump and secretary devos should heed that warning and join democrats in delivering the 200 billion in relief that we have passed to help schools safely reopen. But instead, this administration is leaving School Districts to fend for themselves and threatening to strip away without any Legal Authority the very resources the schools need to ensure the safety of students and school staff. In short, this administration is abandoning the health needs of our School Communities at a time when the u. S. Has surpassed 4 million known covid19 infections. And theyre blaming School Districts for not doing enough to reopen. Ill reiterate again. Each one of us wants to reopen our schools as soon as possible so that we can get our children back into classrooms and reopen but we also have the responsibility to care for the health and safety of our students. Must always be our first and foremost priority. Withk forward to working you and all my colleagues to schoolsour resources with the resources they need. Help our economy recover from the pandemic. Thank you. Further business, this committee stands adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy, visit ncicap. Org] coming up this morning, National Journal Senate Reporter zach cohen discusses the latest on the gop coronavirus legislation, and National Association of latino elected and appointed officials Election Fund ceo talks about issues important to latino voters. And america for prosperity on 2020. s view watch live at 7 00 eastern this morning. Be sure to join the conversation with your phone calls, messages, and tweets. The house returned that men 00 a. M. To finish work on an package the house returns at 9 00 a. M. To finish work on an appropriations package. On cspan2, a house hearing with the fema administrator on Natural Disaster preparedness and the response to covid19. Then at 11 30, a conversation with dr. Anthony fauci on the pandemic. Then, dr. Jill will participate two texasrsation with representatives. Cspan has unfiltered coverage ,f congress, the white house the supreme court, and Public Policy events. You can watch although cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online, or listen on app, andcspan radio be part of the conversation through cspans daily washington journal program. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television companies as a public service, and brought to you today by your television provider. Joe biden was interviewed by former president barack obama on the pandemic, and the federal response to the virus in the u. S. The former president and Vice President were in the same room but seated at a distance, in accordance with coronavirus safety standards. The video was produced and released on social Media Channels by mr. Bidens president ial campaign