SACRAMENTO, CA. (KMJ) — Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and other legislative leaders met Monday to provide an update on the state’s vaccination and school reopening efforts on Monday.
“Since the height of the winter surge, we have successfully shifted the conversation from whether to reopen schools to when,” said Gov. Newsom. “Now, our collective charge is to build on that momentum and local leadership, and – just as critically – do whatever it takes to meet the mental health and academic needs of our students, including over the summer.”
Monday’s news conference was held at Franklin Elementary School in the Elk Grove Unified School District, the state’s 5th largest public school district, which was among the first to close for in-person instruction last year.
Elk Grove Unified School District announced plans to reopen grades K-6 in mid-March and grades 7-12 in early April.
Public schools throughout the state will be allocated $6.6 billion under the proposed budget package.
- $2 billion would fund safety measures to support in-person instruction, such as personal protective equipment, ventilation upgrades and COVID-19 testing.
- $4.6 billion would fund expanded learning opportunities, such as summer school, tutoring and mental health services.
Together, the funds empower schools to develop and execute comprehensive strategies to both reopen and expand programs to address the social-emotional, mental health and academic needs of students.
All public schools would be required to offer in-person instruction to grades K-2 for all students and for high-needs students in all grades by the end of the month, losing 1 percent of eligible funds every day thereafter if they do not.
Schools in the state’s Red Tier or better would be required to offer in-person instruction to all students in all elementary grades and at least one middle or high school grade, or risk the same penalty.
Together, these requirements help ensure schools begin to reopen as soon as possible, in order to build trust and confidence to continue phased reopenings.
For more information, please visit: https://schools.covid19.ca.gov/.
Click to listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
