Tutoring, meals and more: What California’s school reopening plan has for families

When Megan Bacigalupi’s sons went to distance learning last March, she knew it wouldn’t be easy.

Now, the two boys who attend kindergarten and second grade in Oakland Unified School District, have been learning through Zoom for more than a year. What was a challenge in 2020 has the potential to impact her sons for years to come.

“Normally they’d be sitting with peers at a table interacting together, learning together, and all of that it’s gone.,” said Bacigalupi, who is part of Open Schools CA, a parent-led push to reopen schools. “So what I have noticed with both my kids is just like the engagement with school, the willingness to do the work. It was hard a year ago, it’s almost impossible now.”

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a hard-fought funding bill designed to get students back in classrooms this spring. Of the $6.6 billion in state funding for school reopening, $4.6 billion is to be used by schools to mitigate learning loss, aiming to help kids like Bacigalupi’s sons get the supplemental instruction and support they need to catch up from a year of education through screens.

Lawmakers will give schools flexibility in how they want to spend the money, but there are some parameters.

Schools must use at least 85% of the money for in-person instruction, and at least 10% should be used to hire paraprofessionals for supplemental instruction, with a focus on rehiring those who were subject to layoffs.

Otherwise, there’s a wide range of ways schools can use the funds. They can extend the school day or year, launch summer school programs, provide meals to vulnerable students, create extra programming and instruction for students, hire mental health professionals, or create extra training for educators, among other things.

The funds will be portioned out to each school district based on student populations. By June 1, schools must present a plan to use the money. Schools then have until August 2022 to use the learning mitigation funds.

Schools will receive money based on the typical state funding formula, with extra cash going to districts based on homeless student populations. State special schools are allotted $725 for each student based on average daily attendance.

Missing out on special learning plans

Bacigalupi’s second grader has dyslexia. In a normal year, the school would assess him and provide him with specialized learning instruction. But because of the pandemic, he’s been waiting 10 months to get an individual educational plan.

“What I think is happening is that the kids that are most at risk, whether they have learning differences, whether they’re English language learners, whether their situation at home is not ideal to learn at home ... those are the kids who are falling even farther behind than they may have normally,” she said.

“So I think that’s where the worry for me as a parent of a kid with a learning difference really is because I’m seeing it my own eyes.”

Labor groups across California are skeptical of the plan to reopen schools. United Teachers Los Angeles slammed the plan, arguing that by basing reopening on community transmission rates, the plan would only send more money to wealthier, healthier districts that aren’t experiencing the pandemic as severely as other communities.

Lawmakers conceded that while the plan is a step in the right direction, it’s not a promise to get students back in classrooms immediately. School districts still have to make the decision on whether or not to take the money and how to spend it. San Francisco Unified said it could reopen classrooms for youngest cohorts as soon as April 12. Sacramento City Unified, similarly, is aiming at mid-April to return certain groups of students to classrooms.

Bargaining ahead

But despite disagreements about how and when to reopen, there is a consensus that students will need extra support following nearly a year of at-home learning.

School districts will likely have to bargain with organized labor groups if they want to make any changes to working conditions, such as extending the school day or adding extra days to the school year.

“The $4.6 billion to support student learning is also essential and allows school districts to dedicate the time and resources to equitably support the social and emotional needs of students and target a whole-child recovery,” said California Teachers Association president E. Toby Boyd.

Kevin Gordon, president of Capitol Advisors Group, a lobbying firm that represents hundreds of districts around the state, said school leaders are glad to see lawmakers give districts flexibility in how to support students upon return.

“I think generally, people are really, supportive of the fact that the way the Legislature and governor put that together was to have lots of different ideas for how you achieve learning loss and address the needs of kids who are the most impacted, without it being overly prescriptive,” he said. “It’s a roadmap to say there are a lot of solutions to bring to this to these challenges, and let’s let local school leaders figure that out.”