By Dave Devereaux
Changing Our Narrative
Nearly six months into this pandemic and America is still tripping over itself to correct many of the early mistakes and blunders made by our politicians. Several burning questions still loom today as to when schools can safely reopen and when states, cities and towns can really begin a new normal.
Trump keeps making threats to withhold educational funds from states if governors do not effectively put in place plans to reopen schools for the fall. However, no parent is sending their child back to a facility that may not be safe due to their contact exposure to others that may cause harm. While a few very inconsiderate and ignorant people refuse to wear masks in public, what makes anyone think that those people’s kids will wear a mask at school and keep it on all day. If you have been around a group of middle schoolers, you will know that following that rule alone will be a daily challenge. If the parent refuses to follow that safety rule, you can expect the child to behave in the same manner. Which in turn, creates the risk of exposure and spread of the virus when the child comes home. From there, exposure could become exponential.
To be honest, that threat from Trump is somewhat veiled. States receive less than 12% of funding from the federal government. Most of the K-12 funding comes from the state along with the collecting of property taxes and other local sources. The feds send the smallest percentage overall. The actual amount received varies by state and is allocated via a formula. By far the largest allocation from the feds is through the IDEA and Title I programs. IDEA is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act which addresses special education programs. Title I provides funding for schools with low-income students and is considered an “entitlement program” based on student enrollment, free and reduced lunch percentages and other data. That amount is voted and agreed upon by Congress, which as we know is fractured and partisan and moves at a snail’s pace. Therefore, no withholding would be immediate since our elected officials do not get along and seldom if ever agree on the same issue.
Yet, this is the repeated behavior of this president along with his administration, to make threats and to bully until he feels that he has gotten his way. However, this time I don’t think this will lend itself to their favor. Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education has absolutely no public school education experience and continues to make blunders with funding and unpopular decisions. And we must remember, she barely got across the confirmation threshold with a 50-50 vote, that resulted in Mike Pence having to break that tie. She has legions of detractors who feels she is most certainly the wrong choice to be leading our nation’s public school program. Many think DeVos will certainly cause irreparable harm.
As with many in Trump’s administration, they eventually see this man has an unorthodox manner of governing that borders on absurd and haphazard much of the time. They usually collect themselves after a season and move along, if he has not fired them for being in his crosshairs. Perhaps, this is why they all leave and write a book. This infuriates him, causing his typical retaliatory response to go after them. His own niece has recently outed him in her much anticipated book as being a narcissist and a cheat at life since way back. And yet our electoral college voted this man President of the United States despite Hilary Clinton having won the popular vote by over 2.8 million. Time will write his legacy of blunder, lies, half truths and what many believe to be as treasonous behavior. The bottom line is that had the Trump administration acted sooner on the front line of this pandemic, we may be in a better place to make such decisions about school reopenings. The fear of sending a little one off to uncertainty is overwhelming and inconceivable to the vast majority.
When it comes to school reopening in the fall, no parent will send their child into harm’s way when they can continue to enroll them in online public school programs until such time is safe to return them to a school site. Now that parents have had a taste of what teachers go through on a daily basis, they are more informed and able to determine the best and safest placement for their child. The question of school reopening is definitely an issue where parents should be involved with their local school districts to be as informed on policy and new procedure as possible. I suggest that parents take an active voice in making it known what you expect from your schools. After all, kids spend at least a third of the day in school. This is critical to safety and a blatant refusal to keep accepting the status quo when it comes to public education.
What makes many so angry is that the federal government uses these issues to drive politics. While I don’t believe that the safety of any child should be poised on the pedestal of politics for any reason, I do believe that the most powerful hand in decision making lies with parents and school communities speaking up about what concerns them and that they work toward resolving those issues. Governors have a responsibility to protect their constituents on all levels, and their collective voices should represent the voices of those who put them in office.
