Los Angeles Public Schools Won’t Open in Fall as Covid-19 Crisis Continues - The Wall Street Journal

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Students outside the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex High School in downtown Los Angeles in January 2019.

Photo: Richard Vogel/Associated Press

By

Tawnell D. Hobbs

• Biography
• @tawnell
• tawnell.hobbs@wsj.com

Updated July 13, 2020 4:21 pm ET

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, said Monday that it would start the school year online.

Some school districts are getting skittish with in-person learning and delaying it as coronavirus cases surge across the U.S. Some districts are pushing off school start dates by up to several weeks, while others like LAUSD plan to start the school year with online-learning only.

“The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control,” said a joint statement issued by LAUSD and the San Diego Unified School District, which also will start the school year online.

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Both districts said they would continue planning for a return to in-person learning in the new academic year as public-health conditions allow. They plan to launch online learning on their originally scheduled opening dates: on Aug. 18 for Los Angeles and Aug. 31 for San Diego.

President Trump has demanded school districts open to in-person learning or risk losing federal funding. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has also pushed for reopening.

But teacher unions and their supporters say the administration is rushing to reopen schools despite rapidly rising case counts, with some states repeatedly posting new single-day records for confirmed infections. Decisions to reopen schools are largely left up to state and local governments. Many districts plan to reopen in fall with in-person and remote learning, or a blend of both.

Total U.S. coronavirus cases topped 3.3 million Monday and the nation’s death toll exceeded 135,000, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

School advocates and outside groups have estimated that public schools would need billions of dollars in federal aid to cover extra costs of operating during the pandemic, which include purchasing new technology for remote learning, expanding testing, providing personal protective equipment and cleaning school facilities.

Larry Kudlow, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said additional federal funds for education might be available to encourage strapped state and local authorities to open schools in the fall.

“I think the president would be willing to consider additional funding for state and local governments if the schools do reopen, so that’s perhaps an incentive,” Mr. Kudlow told Fox News on Monday.

Mr. Kudlow said Mr. Trump hasn’t made a final decision and declined to say how much additional money the White House would be willing to send to states and localities.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that schools would be able to reopen in the fall if they are located in an area that is in the fourth and final phase of the state’s reopening plan, and if the area’s 14-day average daily infection rate is 5% or lower. That determination would be made the first week of August, Mr. Cuomo said, and infection rates will be monitored until school reopens.

Neighboring New Jersey has said it plans to open with a combination of remote learning and in-person instruction this fall. The state issued guidelines for reopening schools, and districts are forming their own plans for doing so, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday.

“We’re not going to be beaten or bludgeoned into doing this,” Mr. Murphy said during a press briefing. “We’re going to do it right, responsibly,” he said, adding that the state would need to be convinced everyone could be protected.

Connecticut has said it plans to open for full-time, in-person instruction in the fall.

—Allison Prang and Andrew Restuccia contributed to this article.

Write to Tawnell D. Hobbs at Tawnell.Hobbs@wsj.com

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