SNAFU!

Texas classrooms can stay closed this fall without losing state funding if local health officials order it, @AliyyaSwaby writes. https://t.co/5RHqdgm7Ra

— Ayan Mittra (@ayanmittra) July 15, 2020

Remember when Trump and DeVos said schools have to open in the fall or die?

Yeah, nobody was listening:

Weeks before summer break is set to end for millions of Texas public school students, the state still doesn’t have final rules on how schools should reopen this fall, and the picture grew only slightly less murky on Wednesday.

Schools in Houston, the state's largest district, announced they will start the fall semester later than usual and expect students to spend at least six weeks learning virtually before possibly bringing some back into classrooms. The state made clear that it won't financially penalize districts that don't open for in-person classes within three weeks of starting their school year if a local public health agency orders classrooms to remain closed.

And amid the evolving reopening turmoil, several hundred teachers protested outside the state Capitol Wednesday demanding that their safety be taken into account.

Last week, the state's education agency had said all schools must offer in-person instruction for all students who want it this fall, allowing districts a transition period of just three weeks at the start of the year to hold classes virtually and get safety plans in place. It didn’t take long for them to rethink the initial approach, as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to spike across the state.

The "who's on first, I don't know's on second" approach is making everybody dizzy:

Since early spring, the state has been the singular authority regarding the reopening of schools.  Just last week, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) stated that “On-campus instruction must be offered for all students who want to attend on campus in order to be eligible to receive funding for remote instruction.”

TEA also offered school districts that needed more time to develop safety protocols a three-week window of virtual only instruction before transitioning into the state required in-person instructional model.  During this three-week transition, districts were still “…required to allow students to access on campus instruction who come from households without internet access or appropriate remote learning devices.”

However, yesterday and today, multiple media outlets reported that Governor Abbott is now stating that TEA will allow for a longer period of time for online learning at the beginning of the school year, and flexibility at the local level.

To date, the Governor, nor TEA, have provided official information to Texas superintendents regarding these media reports. The Texas Tribune published an article today that indicated, “a TEA spokesperson told the Tribune that school superintendents and school boards cannot make the decision to stay entirely virtual for longer than three weeks without a mandate from public health officials.” However, the TEA has yet to directly communicate this information to school districts.  At this time, the agency has not provided superintendents or Boards any verification or guidance regarding media reports concerning the authority of public health officials, or school districts, to reopen and/or close schools. It is unfortunate that important information, that impacts our valued employees and thousands of Katy ISD families, is being communicated through the media instead of to school district leaders — information that would enable us to be in a position to make informed action plans for re-opening schools.    

That's from a Superintendent of an independent school district in the Houston area.  I suspect "unfortunate" is the term he settled on after he calmed down enough to write this letter to parents and teachers in his district.  To call this a "cluster pluck" (thank you, Molly Ivins!) is to engage in the same deployment of euphemisms.  This is moving rapidly for SNAFU to FUBAR*:

This week, officials began slowly pulling back on those stringent requirements. Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that districts can expect more flexibility on opening classrooms. And state education officials told The Texas Tribune Wednesday that they would continue to fund school districts choosing to stay completely virtual for more than three weeks, if local health officials mandate it.

They are not, however, as that letter notes, communicating any of this to school districts.  Not in detail, not in general, not in any way at all.

The conflicting mandates ping-ponging between state and local officials are frustrating many parents, students and teachers trying to plan for a fall semester during a raging pandemic. In the middle of the confusion, school superintendents are crafting their own plans for reopening this fall, sometimes going against established state guidance.

For example, all 209,000 students in the Houston Independent School District will start the year with six weeks of virtual classes right after Labor Day, Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan announced Wednesday. But even that plan is subject to change, if state or local officials issue other guidance overruling it.

“We’re doing what’s best based on the data available in our community,“ Lathan said at a press conference. Houston ISD parents can also opt out of in-person instruction for the fall semester and school year.

Government is best when it's local, right?  This is an ultra-conservative state, right?  And that's a mantra of American conservatism?  Right?  I'm askin', here!

Public health officials warn that reopening school buildings in areas with a lot of community spread will exacerbate the virus’ impact. Harris County’s public health officials have not issued a mandate to keep classrooms closed, but several other cities have, including El Paso, Austin and Laredo. Those districts will continue to receive state funding as long as they offer remote instruction for all students.

More and more districts across the state are pushing their start dates back later into August or September and choosing to stay entirely virtual for at least the first few weeks.

Parents are starting to make decisions on whether to opt out of in-person instruction for the grading period or school year with limited information and looming deadlines. A University of Texas and Texas Politics Project poll showed recently that 65% of Texans said it was unsafe for children to go back to school.

Still unspoken in this is that state funding rests on student attendance:  the schools get paid for every student in a seat on certain days of the year, when the headcount is, well...counted.  How will the state handle schools where up to 65% of the students are learning from home?  Even TEA (they dole out the money) saying schools will be funded if they have a note from their doctor...er, local public health official, doesn't say what funding they are talking about.  Or how the note from the doctor is delivered, and to whom.

I guess each district could just contact the Texas Tribune....

FUBAR, indeed.


*Ask your grandpa!  I can't do everything for ya!  Punks.