In Texas, “back to school” is something that doesn’t happen in autumn. Summer vacation begins in May and students return to their school in mid-August. The biggest Republican state in the nation serves as a warning storey about the difficulties the country will confront when children return to school amid an increase in coronavirus cases and a more infectious version.
Already, a confrontation between public school administrators and Republican state legislators is growing. Governor Greg Abbott signed executive orders prohibiting government institutions, including schools, from mandating masks in May and again in July. However, with an increase in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations colliding with the academic year, there are some public-school administrators defying the governor’s directives.
On August 10th, the Dallas Independent School District, which serves over 150,000 kids, became the first district in the state to declare that students and instructors would be required to wear masks. (Several other cities, including Austin, have since followed.) Disd Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said that he definitely anticipated hearing from the office of the attorney general. On August 11th, Clay Jenkins, Dallas County Judge, issued his own order requiring masking in businesses, child care centers, and public schools, almost ensuring a legal stalemate with the state.
Wearing masks is not the only issue confronting school authorities. Another example is vaccinations, which Mr. Abbott has prohibited school districts and other entities from mandating. Mr Hinojosa reports that did has provided free vaccinations to workers, but only half of the teaching personnel has been immunized. (The state’s immunization rate is less than 46 percent and is hardly increasing.)
Enrollment is another challenge. Schools have struggled to forecast how many kids will return this fall. Todd Fouche said that right now, they arguably have more unknowns than ever. The financing of school districts is contingent on the number of pupils enrolled. In Dallas, the average attendance rate is 95 percent although some schools that started early had just 60 percent of students return before increasing to 80 percent. Mr Hinojosa explained that even if they get 80 percent we will still lose 15 percent of our revenue. Virtual-learning courses might be a solution, but to the dismay of school authorities, the legislature did not finance online education.
The governor’s most recent special legislative session may revisit the subject, but Democrats have gone to Washington, D.C. to oppose a voting law, and the state House has failed to achieve a quorum to begin work.
Some school authorities have determined that it is cost-effective to cover the cost of virtual learning temporarily in the expectation that kids would return to school physically when they consider it safe. For example, Frisco is temporarily providing an online alternative. However, if all 8,200 Frisco kids who have enrolled in it remain virtually for the whole fall semester and the state does not alter its position on supporting virtual students, the district would lose $30 million in income. Meanwhile, more parents are opting to send their child to private schools, which may need masks and other health precautions, according to Bob Sanborn of the non-profit Children at Risk.
Children are already suffering academically as a result of covid-19’s disruption. Only 30 percent of Texas 3rd graders tested at and above grade level in mathematics in the spring, down from 48% in 2019. According to one education expert, these latest findings may potentially overestimate the number of kids testing at grade level, since several difficult students did not appear in the tests.
