WASHINGTON (WV News) — During a press conference Thursday, Senate Republicans discussed the need for children to be back in school and addressed the school funding contained in the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
Led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the press conference allowed several senators to share their thoughts on topics including inequities, mental health, struggles and successes and the necessity of opening schools and getting students back in the classroom.
“This has been a very difficult year for families, for many of our workers, and particularly women who have not returned to the workforce because they’ve had to stay home and be with children,” she said. “We have many children who have fallen through the cracks. ... For most families, those that have working parents, that don’t have connectivity, that have students that might have special needs, or those families that don’t really have a parent or adult in their home that.
In Texas, many students don’t have access to broadband, according to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
“We have tried our best to solve that problem and fill the gaps with hotspots and other creative ideas, but the fact is that many of our students — usually coming from low-income families — are falling farther and farther behind,” he said. “We have learned how to safely reopen our schools, and we believe we can do that safely now following the CDC guidance.”
Cornyn said the package is an “extortionate demand from the Senate and House Democrats.”
“There is already a lot of money that has been appropriated,” he said. “This feels like extortion. It feels like we have to pay off the teachers unions. ... We already know what’s true, and that’s that students can go safely back to the classroom.
“It really is the most disadvantaged students that are suffering the most by this, and this is frankly outrageous. Not only the extortion associated with it, but with the fallout for these students who are falling farther and farther behind, and the discrimination, really, that naturally occurs when poor people can’t access the same resources and same education that well-to-do people can.”
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said he would give President Joe Biden a grade of “F” when it comes to his ability to keep his promises on opening schools.
“It’s a well-deserved grade for him because he promised he would have the schools open all across America within 100 days, and he’s failed and we’re halfway there,” he said.
“When the teachers union heard what he had to say, they said ‘no way,’ and as a result he got in line behind the teachers union and our students have fallen farther behind in terms of their education,” he said.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said, “Too many kids are winding up with mental health challenges, and too many kids are getting too far behind.”
“Of the $67.5 billion that has already been available to elementary and secondary schools, they’ve drawn down less than 10% of that,” he said. “Money is not the problem here. The will to get these kids back to school is the problem.”
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., referred to education as “the great equalizer of the nation,” saying it is what gives every child the same opportunity to succeed.
“I want to remind everyone that youth suicide has doubled and our youth mental health has never been worse,” he said. “The issue of getting our kids back in school feels like parents versus teachers unions, and it shouldn’t be. It feels like no matter what the CDC says, no matter whether teachers are vaccinated or how much money we throw at this, it doesn’t seem to matter.
“The crisis is that we need to get our kids back in school. It’s not right; it’s not fair; and it’s not American. This is a dereliction of duty on their behalf,” Marshall said.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said there is scientific evidence that has been overwhelmingly in support of children being back in school.
“Around the world, kids have been in-person learning for 9-10 months, and some of them never interrupted in-person learning, all without surges and without outbreaks,” he said.
Paul announced a bill he had introduced, called the School Act, which states Title I funds should follow children wherever they are and, if a school isn’t open to in-person instruction, the student can go to a private school, religious school or other school and those funds will follow them.
“I’m guessing when kids start filing to other places, the schools will decide to open up,” he said.
“What is happening right now with school kids in America is an outrage and a tragedy,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “Right now, today, roughly 40% of American school kids are attending school in-person five days a week. More than half of the school kids in America are not. ... This is unacceptable.”
The “Democratic spending bill is filled with a partisan wish list,” Cruz said at the press conference, adding that “congressional Democrats are telling (families) that (their) kids don’t get school and it’s not a priority.”
Because of the impact of the bill and lack of in-person instruction will have on low-income families, Cruz said he is introducing an amendment that states if schools are shut down and children cannot attend in-person, then those children are eligible for a scholarship grant that would get them into private schools.
“I expect most, if not every, Democrat will vote against that because their answer right now to those kids is, essentially, ‘tough luck.’”
Capito said she is concerned because only 5% of the money of prior stimulus bills that have been put into education to this point has gone to schools.
“We know that the bill in front of us has a lot of money for schools, but if you really look at it, it says that this school money will go out until the year 2028,” she said. “This is supposed to be an emergency bill. It’s an emergency to get our schools reopened and our students back to school, but this kind of overspending and way over-the-top appropriations to our schools is not what we need now. We need to get the schools open, and we still have money in the pipeline to do that.
“The president said he’s going to open schools by May. Well guess what happens in June, and even May? The schools close for the summer. That’s a useless exercise. They can open now,” Capito added.