Joe Biden says schools reopening should be based on 'science not politics', calls for $58BILLION in funds for public education and blasts Trump for 'waving the white flag and giving up'
Joe Biden has unveiled his 'roadmap' to reopen schools in the era of coronavirus, calling on Senate Republicans to allocate $58billion to stabilize public education - as he blasted Trump for waving the 'white flag and giving up.'
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee laid out his five-point plan on Friday as the Trump administration continued their aggressive approach to jump-start classes this fall.
'Donald Trump may have waved the white flag and given up, but the rest of can't do that,' Biden said.
President Trump has argued that most parents are anxious to see schools resume in-person classes and claimed school districts that don't fully open are more motivated by politics than by legitimate fears about the pandemic.
'They think it´s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,' Trump said at a White House discussion on school plans last week.
'No way. We´re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.'
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (pictured) on Friday released his 'roadmap' to reopening schools this fall amid the pandemic
Trump has also threatened to hold back federal funding if schools don't bring their students back in the fall, but critics are rattled as cases skyrocket in a number of states.
'Everyone wants their schools to be reopen. The question is how to make it safe, how to make it stick,' Biden said in a video accompanying his proposal.
'Forcing educators and students back into a classroom in areas where the infection rate is going up or remaining very high is just plain dangerous.'
His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, sat next to Biden in the video and took a not-to-subtle jab at Trump in the process.
'Schools and parents alike want a clear science-based strategy. Not mixed messages and ultimatums,' she said.
President Trump (pictured) and the White House have launched a vigorous campaign to fully reopen schools in the fall with in-person classes
The Biden campaign summarized in a statement: 'The challenge facing our schools is unprecedented. President Trump has made it much worse. We had a window to get this right. And, Trump blew it.'
First, Biden said any plans for the new school year have to start by reducing the number of coronavirus cases in communities around the country: 'That's step one.'
This included boosting the United State's PPE supplies, improving testing abilities and expanding contact tracing.
Second, Biden suggested that the United States must 'set national safety guidelines, [and] empower local decision-making' if it is to successfully move forward.
He planed to enlist federal agencies, including the CDC, to establish 'basic, objective criteria' for reopening schools.
Those included districts securing necessary funding to reconfigure classrooms to better allow for social distancing, reducing class sizes, procuring protective equipment and devising plans to accommodate at-risk teachers and students.
Biden briefly aligned with the Trump administration that the final decisions are ultimately up to state and local officials.
A new poll released Thursday shows that only 25 per cent of American adults feel that Trump should be pressuring schools to reopen, while 63 per cent are against the demands
Third, the former vice president hoped to provide emergency funding to public schools and child care providers.
Biden said he would directly call on Trump and Senate Republicans to allocate $58billion from the HEROES Act to stabilize public schools and save jobs.
He also vowed to call on Congress to pass a separate $30billion emergency package that will guarantee schools have the resources to fully adapt to the coronavirus pandemic.
An additional $4billion would be used to update school broadband and technology.
The proposal's fourth point would ensure that students are receiving high-quality learning despite the ongoing pandemic.
Biden hoped to create a large effort with the US Department of Education to work with teachers to develop, implement and share the best ideas for learning.
Biden proposal said he would call on President Trump (center) and Senate Republicans to allocated $58billion to stabilize public school education and save jobs
Improvements to remote learning, as well as ongoing discussions with the CDC and National Institute of Health about evolving pandemic insights would be also included.
Finally, Biden's plan would look to close the coronavirus educational gap.
Biden said the pandemic, which shuttered schools in March and disrupted curriculum nationally, has negatively impacted the education of low income and minority students.
Additionally, he also suggested schools shouldn't be forced to reopen until the creation of federal guidelines 'free from political influence.'
Biden said they should detail how low a community's infection rate needs to be before resuming in-person instruction, when schools might close again if virus infection cases rise, what safe maximum class sizes are and who should return to the classroom first if not everyone can be accommodated.
'The Trump Administration’s chaotic and politicized response has left school districts to improvise a thousand hard decisions on their own,' the Biden campaign wrote.
Joe Biden has leveled consistent attacks against President Trump over the course of the coronavirus pandemic
Biden blasted Trump by saying his 'ignorance isn't a virtue or a sign of your strength', but that it is constraining the country's pandemic response
The National Education Association, the country's largest labor union which endorsed Biden's primary campaign, praised the proposal.
The union previously slammed Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for their push to reopen schools.
'The safety of our students and educators shouldn’t be political, but sadly once again we see Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos are playing politics with the lives of our students and educators by threatening to withhold funding from school that don’t give in to their bullying,' wrote NEA President Lily Eskelsen GarcÃa on Friday.
'Biden is listening to parents and educators across the nation about how to reopen schools safely, while listening to the doctors and local public health officials to determine when and where it is safe to reopen school buildings,' she added.
The debate about reopening schools for in-person classes is the latest dilemma to hit the United States after the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans sparked a wave of Black Lives Matter protests.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany advanced much the same argument as Biden, saying the decision to reopen schools should be driven by science - but argued that doing so means bringing students back to classrooms.
'When the president says open, he means open in full, kids being able to attend each and every day in their school', she said during a press conference.
'The science should not stand in the way of this. The science is on our side here, and we encourage for localities and states to just simply follow the science, open our schools.'
The CDC earlier this month released guidelines for safely reopening schools amid the pandemic, telling districts to place desks six feet apart, have children wear face coverings and close down communal areas like playgrounds.
But Trump quickly criticized the guidelines as 'very tough' and 'expensive.'
The CDC began reworking their guidelines, but have not released any materials yet.
On Sunday, he reiterated that he could withhold funding from schools if they do not fully reopen in the fall.
'Young people have to go to school, and there's problems when you don't go to school, too,' Trump said as his administration has begun pushing for schools to return to in-person classroom learning.
'And there's going to be a funding problem because we're not going to fund – when they don't open their schools,' the president threatened. 'We're not going to fund them.'
'We're not going to give them money if they're not going to school. If they don't open,' he continued.
Trump threatened earlier this month that he would not allow federal funding to be released to public schools if they did not comply with reopening.
He said Democrats are pushing to keep schools closed because they are concerned that reopening would be a bad political move for presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden ahead of the November presidential election.
He added that countries that have begun reopening their schools are having 'no problems' – failing to mention that their rates of cases and mortality from coronavirus are much lower than in the U.S.
