As Schools Reopen, Schumer Plans To Block $105 Billion In New Education Funding

Senate Republicans’ Bill Includes $105 Billion In Assistance For Schools, More Than What Democrats Put In Their Bill

SENATE REPUBLICAN BILL: “Education Stabilization Fund: For an additional amount for ‘Education Stabilization Fund’, $105,000,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2021, to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, domestically or internationally …” (S.A. 2652 to S.178, 116^th Congress, Congressional Record, S.5473, 9/08/2020)

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “We have it in The Heroes Act, $100 billion stabilization fund specifically to address the coronavirus impact in the schools.  Most of it is for K-12.  And it addresses what you would expect: spacing and what is entailed in that, hygiene, sanitation, training.” (MSNBC, 7/13/2020)

• PELOSI: “But let me just back up to The Heroes Act and what is in The Heroes Act that could be so helpful.  … The Heroes Act, which has … $100 billion education stabilization fund in it specific to the coronavirus. This is absolutely essential.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 7/15/2020)

Yet Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Is Already Vowing To Block This Money For Schools

“Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday said Democrats won’t fold to Republicans’ scaled-down coronavirus relief plan, predicting their rejection of a near $500 billion measure will put pressure on GOP senators …” (CNN, 9/09/2020)

• SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “It won’t pass on Thursday, and we’ll be right back where we are today …” (Sen. Schumer, Remarks, 9/09/2020)

Meanwhile, Speaker Pelosi Insists She’s ‘All About The Children,’ But When Pressed On Going Forward Where There’s Common Ground, She Declares, ‘Don’t Be Misled By Thinking, Oh, Well, A Little Bit Is Better Than Nothing. No, It Isn’t’

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “So, I’m all about the children, as you know …” (MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 9/09/2020)

MSNBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL: “Well, is it better to go forward with some...”
PELOSI: “No, it isn’t. Now, let me -- thank you so much for that question, because I hear it a lot. And, clearly, it springs from all the good intentions we all have to help people as soon as we can. … So, don’t be misled by thinking, oh, well, a little bit is better than nothing. No, it isn’t.” (MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 9/09/2020)

Schools Are Reopening, But Struggling With Costs And Difficulties Created By The Pandemic

“For millions of American schoolchildren, the Tuesday after Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer vacation and the start of the first day of classes. But this year, instead of boarding buses and lugging backpacks, many students opened their laptops for online instruction at home, only to encounter technical glitches.” (“Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School,” The New York Times, 9/08/2020)

• “A ransomware attack forced Hartford, Conn., to call off the first day of classes. A website crash left many of Houston’s 200,000 students staring at error messages. And a server problem in Virginia Beach disrupted the first hours back to school there.” (“Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School,” The New York Times, 9/08/2020)

• “Districts that returned before Labor Day have faced similar issues. In Philadelphia, students had trouble logging on last week because of a server issue. North Carolina schools encountered a statewide software problem on the first day back last month. And some families in Seattle, which had a sort of trial run for school on Friday, said they were kicked out of class calls or had difficulty connecting to text chats and camera feeds.” (“Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School,” The New York Times, 9/08/2020)

“Rather than receiving recommendations for best practices and coordinated purchasing plans, districts large and small were largely left on their own while tackling the huge challenge of finding virtual learning platforms and signing contracts within a few months.” (“Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School,” The New York Times, 9/08/2020)

“In places that have opted for online classes, remote learning has continued to be a major challenge, as it was in the spring when widespread absenteeism, lack of technology, poor broadband connections and other challenges led to growing student achievement gaps by race and income.” (“Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School,” The New York Times, 9/08/2020)

• “The trouble in Arlington came despite frantic preparations, pursued aggressively over the past month: Officials in all four Northern Virginia districts scrambled throughout August to prepare teachers and online platforms. At the top of the priority list was ensuring all families had access to devices and Internet service, the lack of which made learning impossible for many last spring. Arlington delivered iPads to all of its elementary- and middle-schoolers, and handed out MacBook laptops to high-schoolers. Alexandria distributed thousands of tablets and Chromebooks. Over the past few months, Fairfax gave out more than 5,000 mobile WiFi devices. Loudoun extended school WiFi to its parking lots, and then invited families to pull up and begin learning in their cars in the fall.” (“Back To School, But Not Back To Normal: Students And Teachers In Northern Virginia Launch Online Learning,” The Washington Post, 9/08/2020)

“In other parts of the country, including several states in the South and the Midwest, schools have been open for more than a month, resulting in student quarantines and temporary shutdowns in some districts where classes are being held in person. A district in Cherokee County, Ga., had to order more than 1,200 people to quarantine and close down two high schools after just more than a week of classes. Other districts seem to have reopened without major outbreaks …” (“Website Crashes and Cyberattacks Welcome Students Back to School,” The New York Times, 9/08/2020)

Senate Republicans’ Bill Also Includes Liability Protections That Schools And Universities Consider ‘Imperative’ To Reopen Successfully

SEN. THUNE: “[O]ur bill contains another important measure to help keep our recovery going and protect jobs, and that is liability protections. No matter how many precautions schools and businesses take, there is no way for them to completely eliminate all risk of employees, students, or customers contracting the virus…. There’s no question that schools and businesses should be liable for gross negligence or intentional misconduct. But businesses and schools that are taking every reasonable precaution to protect employees and students should not have to worry about facing lawsuits for virus transmission that they could not have prevented. In addition to providing schools with liability protections, our bill focuses on providing schools with the resources they need to get kids and teachers back in classrooms, safely.” (Sen. Thune, Remarks, 9/09/2020)

“Business and education groups, including the School Superintendents Association, have urged Congress to pass new legal protections and ease the risk of lawsuits as schools and businesses weigh whether to reopen.” (“Senate GOP Aims To Funnel Covid Liability Cases To Federal Courts,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/16/2020)

“Colleges and universities are making their own push for liability protections ... The American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities and dozens of other higher education groups sent a letter to lawmakers on Thursday expressing ‘fears of huge transactional costs associated with defending against COVID-19 spread lawsuits’ without more legal protections.” (“Colleges Ask For Liability Protections,” Politico Influence, 5/28/2020)

AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION AND 75 OTHER HIGHER EDUCATION ASSOCIATIONS: “On behalf of the American Council on Education and the undersigned higher education associations, I am writing today to urge you to quickly enact temporary and targeted liability protections related to the COVID-19 pandemic. While these crucial protections are likely necessary for many sectors of the American economy, this letter focuses on the need to safeguard higher education institutions and systems, affiliated nonprofits, and healthcare providers and facilities from excessive and speculative lawsuits arising out of the pandemic.” (American Council on Education and 75 Higher Education Associations, Letter to Speaker Pelosi, Rep. McCarthy, and Sens. McConnell and Schumer, 5/28/2020)

• “But as colleges and universities assess how quickly and completely campuses can resume full operations, they are facing enormous uncertainty about COVID-19-related standards of care and corresponding fears of huge transactional costs associated with defending against COVID-19 spread lawsuits, even when they have done everything within their power to keep students, employees, and visitors safe. To blunt the chilling effect this will have on otherwise reasonable decision-making leading to our nation’s campuses resuming operations in a safe and sensible manner, we ask that Congress quickly enact temporary COVID-19-related liability protections for higher education institutions and systems, affiliated entities, as well as their faculty, staff and volunteers. These protections should be conditioned on following applicable public health standards, and they should preserve recourse for those harmed by truly bad actors who engage in egregious misconduct. … Higher education’s need for temporary and targeted liability protections and relief is clear. Now is the time for Congress to act.” (American Council on Education and 75 Higher Education Associations, Letter to Speaker Pelosi, Rep. McCarthy, and Sens. McConnell and Schumer, 5/28/2020)

THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS ASSOCIATION, ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGENCIES, AND THE NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION: “The undersigned organizations, representing the nation’s public school leaders, urge you to quickly enact temporary and targeted liability relief legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Such protections will be critical to businesses, non-profit organizations, and healthcare providers and facilities, as we work to recover from this pandemic. Because opening schools will be crucial to safely and efficiently reopen the economy, it is imperative school districts are afforded the same legal safeguard. Schools must have protection from unfair lawsuits, so they can move forward in providing high-quality instruction for their students and safe facilities for their communities.” (The School Superintendents Association, Association of Educational Service Agencies, and the National School Boards Association, Letter to Sens. McConnell and Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. McCarthy, 7/8/2020)

• “As Congress moves forward in its efforts to enact temporary liability protections against COVID-19 exposure claims for employers that work to follow applicable public health guidelines, it is imperative that public school systems and educational institutions be included in such protections. We believe any protections should be limited in scope and preserve recourse for those harmed by truly bad actors who engage in egregious misconduct. … As the federal government continues to assist states and local governments with COVID-19 recovery, liability protections during this pandemic will help our schools reopen safely, implement the necessary protocols to protect our students and staff, and mitigate additional losses.” (The School Superintendents Association, Association of Educational Service Agencies, and the National School Boards Association, Letter to Sens. McConnell and Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. McCarthy, 7/8/2020)

16 CALIFORNIA EDUCATION AGENCIES, SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AND ASSOCIATIONS: “On behalf of the California local educational agencies (LEAs) and statewide education associations that are represented on this letter, we are writing to request that you enact temporary and targeted liability relief legislation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because opening schools will be crucial to safely and efficiently reopen the economy, it is imperative school districts are afforded protection from unfair lawsuits, so they can move forward in providing high-quality instruction for their students and safe facilities for their communities.” (16 California Education Agencies, School Districts, and Associations, Letter to Sens. McConnell and Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. McCarthy, 7/8/2020)

• “Due to the potential impacts of frivolous lawsuits on school districts’ budgets, it is critically important that lawmakers realize the financial burden that school districts would likely face without some protections—and that these expenses impact the quality of education offered to all students at the end of the day. Lack of temporary and limited immunity to our exposure to liability claims is an issue so significant that it may actually prevent our ability to reopen schools with in-person and classroom-based instruction until a proven vaccine is produced and available to the public.” (16 California Education Agencies, School Districts, and Associations, Letter to Sens. McConnell and Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. McCarthy, 7/8/2020)

• “As Congress moves forward in its efforts to enact temporary liability protections against COVID-19 exposure claims for employers that work to follow applicable public health guidelines, it is imperative that public school systems and educational institutions be included in such protections.” (16 California Education Agencies, School Districts, and Associations, Letter to Sens. McConnell and Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. McCarthy, 7/8/2020)