Hayes says work for opening schools should have started in Spring

By Scott Benjamin

U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes says the federal government “missed an opportunity” in “March and April” to take definitive steps to make it possible for school districts to safely reopen in late August as the country continues to recover from the pandemic.

“We’re discussing things in July” that should have been established much earlier, Hayes (D-5) of Wolcott said during a virtual news conference on July 21.

She said steps should have been taken this spring, for example, to provide funding to improve inadequate ventilation systems and for professional development in online learning in case the buildings were not ready for occupancy in the fall.

Hayes, a former history instructor at Kennedy High School in Waterbury who was the national Teacher of the Year in 2016, spoke with two other members of the U.S. House Education & Labor Committee – Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the chairman, and Donna Shalala (D-Fl.), who served as the secretary of Health & Human Services under former Democratic President Bill Clinton and as president of the University of Miami, as well as Nyree Washington, a teacher at a Miami high school.

Scott expressed concern toward comments b y Republican President Donald Trump regarding not providing federal funding to school districts that don’t reopen in late August.

Shalala said the federal government on average provides about 9 percent of the funding for school districts, and under the current conditions more money will have to be appropriated since states and municipalities don’t have the resources to ensure the safety of the schools.

Scott said currently many districts are apprehensive about how students will safely transfer to classes between periods and occupy school buses. He noted that there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases in some states over the recent days.

Said Hayes, “Everybody wants to reopen, but we have to do it safely.”

Funding to assist the schools was included in the Heroes Act, a $3 trillion stimulus package that was approved on May 15 in the U.S. House but was not considered in the U.S. Senate.

In a news release distributed on July 22, the day after the virtual news conference, former Assistant U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan of New Fairfield, the Republican candidate in the Fifth Congressional District, stated, “Jahana Hayes gives us nothing more than excuses on why schools can’t reopen and then demands extreme, binge spending that can’t possibly be justified by actual needs.”

“Her demand of $305 billion dollars represents a nearly 400 percent increase in total Federal K-12 spending," he declared. "This amount can’t possibly be spent in just the 30 days remaining before school opens in the fall, and it certainly can’t be well-spent.”

“Thankfully, Gov. Ned Lamont has given us the proper direction," Sullivan continued. " The CT State Board of Education and our local school boards across CT are planning and working hard right now to reopen schools, with sensible precautions in place, for the fall. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports reopening our schools, as well.”

The president told Fox News Sunday on July 19 that his stimulus package would likely include a temporary suspension of the 7.65 percent payroll tax paid both by employers and employees that is used to help fund Social Security and Medicare. The Washington Post has reported that many congressional Democrats have reservations about that proposal, since they believe it will do little to improve an unemployment rate of 11.1 percent.