Sen. Josh Hawley proposed an amendment to withhold federal relief funding from schools that refuse to allow students to return to classrooms.
“In spite of overwhelming evidence that schools can reopen safely, partisan advocates are using children’s education as a cudgel to push their radical agendas,” Hawley said in a Wednesday statement. “The effect on children and working-class families has been absolutely devastating. The federal government should put an end to this two-tiered education system for the haves and the have-nots by incentivizing schools to safely reopen.”
The amendment, which was made to Congress’s proposed budget resolution, comes in the wake of a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluding that schools that have resumed in-person learning have not increased the spread of the coronavirus.
“These findings suggest that, with proper mitigation strategies, K–12 schools might be capable of opening for in-person learning with minimal in-school transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” the study said.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky tweeted last week that schools should reopen, provided they can do so safely.
Data suggest school settings do not result in rapid spread of #COVID19 when mitigation measures are followed, including masking, decreased density, and proper ventilation. #CNNTownHall
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) January 28, 2021
Students across the country continue to be held out of classrooms due to lockdowns imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, and teachers unions have been a main driver behind keeping those closures in place.
“The schools are not ready for staff or children to return,” Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said this week.
