California school reopening deal could come this week, Gavin Newsom says

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are getting close to a deal on reopening elementary schools and hope to announce a final plan this week, the governor said Tuesday morning.

Newsom said he met with lawmakers Monday night and that negotiations are progressing.

A key sticking point has been vaccines, and whether teachers will need to be vaccinated before returning to classrooms. Teacher unions argue schools shouldn’t require teachers to return unless they’ve been offered the vaccine.

Newsom says that won’t be possible because there are simply not enough shots available to inoculate all teachers and school employees before the end of this school year.

“It’s very unlikely that we’ll be able to accomplish that very idealistic goal before the end of the school year because of the scarcity of supply in vaccinations,” Newsom said during a press conference at the new vaccination site at 49ers stadium in Santa Clara. “That’s the unfortunate position we’re all in.”

Newsom says he believes schools can reopen safely before their employees are vaccinated and that it’s essential to reopen schools this year for the state’s youngest students.

At this point, Newsom says negotiations on schools are focused on statewide standards for vaccinations, protective equipment, testing, spacing and other safety measures. He and lawmakers are also negotiating over possible extensions to the school year to make up for lost learning.

Newsom said he’s hoping to also reach a deal on allowing more youth sports this week.

Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said there are some sticking points to overcome, but negotiations on a school reopening plan are progressing well.

“We are acting with urgency to reach our shared goal of bringing back in-person learning safely. I am confident we will soon have an agreement that will pave the way for students to return to classrooms in some form this spring,” Ting said in a statement.

School reopening negotiations have not moved as quickly as Newsom wanted. Last month, he asked lawmakers to quickly pass legislation to allocate $2 billion for schools to reopen if districts submitted detailed reopening plans by Feb. 1. That deadline passed without action by the Legislature, but Newsom says his goal is still to reopen schools as quickly as possible.

Lawmakers were wary of approving proposal because school districts said it wasn’t feasible, especially because it required schools to run their reopening plans by labor unions before submitting to the state.

Teachers unions have said vaccinating school employees is essential to safely reopening schools.

Claudia Briggs, a spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, said the state should first vaccinate teachers and school employees who are already working in person, especially those in communities most impacted by the pandemic.

“And then, before additional students return to campus, vaccinate employees with a phased-in approach that starts with those who are currently working on campuses and adds others as they are required to report to campus,” Briggs wrote in a statement to The Bee.

Newsom indicated Tuesday that lawmakers are also negotiating over $4.6 billion he had originally proposed to help students who have fallen behind during the pandemic through an extended school year or summer school. Newsom said the money could also be used for extended school days that allow for more “intensive” instruction.

Education labor groups, including CTA, last week released a proposal detailing what schools should do in order to safely reopen, including social distancing and vaccine guidelines.

Kevin Gordon, president of Capitol Advisors Group, a lobbying firm that represents hundreds of districts around the state, said the unions’ proposals put too many burdens on schools, and could result in closing some schools that have already managed to open.

“If the Legislature is serious about helping to get students reopened in this school year, then they are going to have to reject some of the demands that are in that union list of conditions,” he said.

Gordon called labor unions’ reopening proposal an “extreme version of safe.”

“You cannot walk out of your house without putting yourself at some level of jeopardy, so the question is, what level of risk is acceptable? And this list of conditions sounds like the level of risk that’s acceptable is no risk at all,” he said.

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 12:02 PM.