President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to hold back federal money if school districts don't bring their students back in the fall. He complained that public health officials' safety guidelines are impractical and too expensive.
Shortly afterward, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing new guidance next week regarding the coronavirus pandemic "that will give all new tools to our schools." The recommendations will keep students safe, he said, but "the president said today we just don't want the guidance to be too tough."
"We don't want the guidance from CDC to be a reason why schools don't open," Pence said. "I think that every American, every American knows that we can safely reopen our schools... . We want, as the president said this morning, to make sure that what we're doing doesn't stand in the way of doing that."
New York City announced that most of its students would return to classrooms only two or three days a week and would learn online in between. "Most schools will not be able to have all their kids in school at the same time," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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"When you think about social distancing, you need more space," de Blasio said. "You're going to have fewer kids in a classroom, fewer kids in the school building."
De Blasio said parents will have the option of online-only instruction for their children, but he said 75% of parents who answered a survey want their children in school in September.
With millions of the nation's parents anxious about their children's safety in the fall -- and their own work interruptions if they must stay home, Trump accused Democrats yet again of wanting to keep schools closed for election-year reasons rather than health concerns. And he told CDC officials over their reopening guidelines, through a tweet, saying, "I will be meeting with them!!!"
FUNDING THREATENED
Elsewhere in the nation, many states continued to confront a resurgence of the virus, which has claimed more than 132,000 lives in the U.S. But safety obstacles in schools can be surmounted, Trump insisted, and reopening "is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!"
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He did not say what funding he would pull, but Pence suggested at a coronavirus task force briefing that future covid-19 relief bills could be tied to reopening schools as one way "to give states a strong incentive and encouragement to get kids back in school."
On Twitter, Trump argued that countries including Germany, Denmark and Norway have reopened schools "with no problems."
Germany did begin to reopen its schools in May, and in many cases students are taking turns going to school and studying at home for half the week. German authorities are aiming for classes to resume in close to normal fashion after the summer vacation.
Trump's Twitter warnings drew backlash from some governors who said he has no authority over schools' fall plans. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said officials will reopen when it's safe to do so.
"School reopenings are a state decision, period," he said at a news conference. "That is the law, and that is the way we are going to proceed. It's not up to the president of the United States."
Cuomo, who has clashed with de Blasio repeatedly over control of the city's schools and other issues, said all school districts statewide must submit plans for reopening by July 31 and state officials will decide in the first week of August whether to accept the plans -- and whether schools will reopen in the fall at all.
Cuomo said he wants to see if the virus spikes in upcoming weeks, but the deadline leaves his administration just weeks to approve, deny or seek changes to reopening plans for as many as 700 school districts.
"If it's not safe for my child, it's not safe for anyone's child," said Cuomo, who held a news conference in New York City shortly after de Blasio's briefing. "If I wasn't prepared to be a schoolteacher in that school, I wouldn't ask anyone else to be a schoolteacher in that school."
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer tweeted, "Our schools & child care providers need MORE federal funding--not less--to be able to safely open."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made reopening schools a priority to help parents get back to work, and he said Wednesday that he supports CDC guidance to help that happen.
Senate Democrats have proposed $430 billion for schools and child care providers as part of the next aid package to be debated in Congress later this month. McConnell, too, has suggested more money for schools will be needed.
CDC GUIDELINES
Trump made his threat a day after opening an all-out effort pressing state and local officials to reopen the nation's schools and colleges this fall. At a White House event Tuesday, health and education officials argued that keeping students out for the fall semester would pose greater health risks than any tied to the coronavirus.
Among those pushing for a fall reopening was the chief of the CDC. But Trump on Wednesday complained that the agency's school opening guidelines were too tough and costly.
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"While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things," Trump wrote.
The CDC's director, Dr. Robert Redfield, has emphasized that his agency's guidelines are only recommendations.
"It would be personally very disappointing to me and I know my agency if we saw that individuals were using these guidelines as a rationale for not reopening our schools," he said at Wednesday's coronavirus task force briefing, which was held at the Education Department.
The CDC's guidance recommends that students and teachers wear masks whenever feasible, spread out desks, stagger schedules, eat meals in classrooms instead of the cafeteria, and add physical barriers between bathroom sinks.
Redfield said the additional guidance would reflect the fact that "there is a variety of unique circumstances for different schools."
The far more dominant message was that the cost of keeping schools closed is greater than allowing them to open.
"We can't let our kids fall behind academically," Pence said.
Trump did not clarify which of the guidelines he opposed. But a White House spokeswoman later offered an example, saying the president takes issue with the CDC's suggestion that students take their own meals to school when feasible.
"There are 22 million children in this country who depend on these meals at schools, who depend on access to nutrition in schools," press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
DEMOCRATS OBJECT
Democrats slammed the president over his threats and warned him to keep out of the CDC's work. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, ranking Democrat on the Education Committee, said the agency needs to be trusted to make decisions based on scientific evidence, "not on President Trump's Twitter outbursts."
House Appropriations Committee spokesman Evan Hollander said in a statement Wednesday that Congress funds federal education programs.
"President Trump is repeating the same mistakes that have made America's coronavirus pandemic the worst in the world, attempting to override science in search of political advantage," Hollander said. "The president has no authority to cut off funding for these students, and threatening to do so to prop up his flailing campaign is offensive."
At the task force briefing, and a day earlier in a call with the nation's governors, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said anything less than a full reopening would be a failure for students and taxpayers. But some of the nation's largest districts plan to allow back limited numbers of students for only a few days a week, saying it would be unsafe for all to return at once.
DeVos singled out Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools, which are asking families to decide between fully remote instruction or two days a week at school.
"A choice of two days per week in the classroom is not a choice at all," she said, according to audio of the call with governors obtained by The Associated Press.
OTHERS WEIGH IN
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, said, "Educators want nothing more than to be back in classrooms and on college campuses with our students, but we must do it in a way that keeps students, educators and communities safe."
The American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued guidelines suggesting that districts aim to start the academic year with students "physically present in school." Keeping students at home can lead to social isolation, the organization said, and prevent schools from identifying learning deficits, abuse, depression and other issues.
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said reopening schools was important so parents can schedule their workdays "in a predictable manner," while Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said "reopening schools safely may be the single most important thing that we can do to support healthy families during this pandemic."
"Reopening schools comes with some risk, but there are risks to keeping kids at home too," he said. "At home, kids aren't benefiting from social stimulation. They may be falling behind and learning. They may be more vulnerable to abuse that goes unreported by the mandatory reporters in our school system. They may not be getting special services."
DeVos offered a concise message.
"Ultimately it's not a matter of if schools should reopen, it's simply a matter of how."
Information for this article was contributed by Collin Binkley, Karen Matthews, Marina Villeneuve, Kevin Freking and Frank Jordans of The Associated Press; by John Wagner of The Washington Post; and by Josh Wingrove of Bloomberg News.