Josh Hawley Wants Amendment To Withhold Federal Relief Funding From Schools That Refuse To Open

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Feb 4, 2021

Sen. Josh Hawley is proposing an amendment that would withhold federal relief funding for any school that refuses to open up and allow students to return to in-person classrooms.

“In spite of overwhelming evidence that schools can reopen safely, partisan advocates are using children’s education as a cudgel to push their radical agendas,” the senator said in a statement released on Wednesday. “The effect on children and working-class families has been absolutely devastating. The federal government should put an end to this two-tiered education system for the haves and the have-nots by incentivizing schools to safely reopen.”

via Washington Examiner:

The amendment, which was made to Congress’s proposed budget resolution, comes in the wake of a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluding that schools that have resumed in-person learning have not increased the spread of the coronavirus.

Students across the country continue to be held out of classrooms due to lockdowns imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, and teachers unions have been a main driver behind keeping those closures in place.

“The schools are not ready for staff or children to return,” Philadelphia Federation of Teachers president Jerry Jordan said this week.

Democrats always talk about “following the science” on the coronavirus, yet they don’t often practice what they preach. Here’s a fine example of that.

We know for a fact that kids are low risk of complications from the virus and for transmitting it to other people. So why are they being punished simply because teachers and principals have gotten used to hanging out at home all day?

Open them up. If they refuse, this measure seems like a good way to go.