Specialist and the president of the national. Teacher association. This is 2. 5 hours. The subcommittee on Early Childhood elementary and secondary education will come to order. Welcome, everyone. I know that a quorum is present, and i note for the subcommittee that mr. Courtney from connecticut, ms. Mcbath of georgia, ms. Underwood of illinois, ms. Lee of nevada, ms. Trahan of massachusetts, mr. Walberg of michigan. Mr. Johnson of south dakota and dr. Murphy, north carolina. They are permitted to participate in todays hearing with an understanding that there questions will come after all members of the Early Childhood, elementary and secondary education subcommittee on both sides of the aisle who are present, have had an opportunity to question the witnesses. The committee is meeting today for a hearing to hear testimony on underfunded and unprepared examining how to overcome obstacles to safely reopen Public Schools. As this is a hybrid hearing with members participating both here in the hearing room and remotely i would ask all microphones for participants remotely be kept muted to eliminate background noise. Members will be responsible for unmuting themselves when they are recognized to speak or when they wish to seek recognition. Further for House Resolution 965 and its accompanying regulations members participating remotely are required to leave their cameras on the entire time they are in an official proceeding even if they step away from the camera. Whenever there is an official proceeding with remote participation the clerk will call the role to help make clear whos present at the start of the proceeding, so at this time i ask the clerk to call the roll. [roll call] ms. Shrier, mrs. Hayes, ms. Davis, ms. Wilson, mr. Desonie, mr. Morelli, chairman scott, mr. Allen, mr. Thompson, mr. Keller, mr. Van drew, mrs. Fox. That concludes the roll call. Thank you. Thank you very much. Pursuant to Committee Rules 7c Opening Statements are limited to the chair and Ranking Member. This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement. Were here to ask what Congress Must do to help American Students get back to school during this pandemic. All of us wants our schools to reopen for full time inperson instruction as soon as possible. That fact is not up for debate. The question is what Must Congress do to help our schools get students back get students and faculty back into the classroom safely . Were all coming to a new understanding of just how essential schools are to life in america where working parents can be confident their children are cared for, where economically challenged families know their children can be fed, where our communities can find Common Ground cheering and cheering at sporting events and where americas future is being formed by the knowledge and values we impart to the next generation. Schools are currently struggling to safely reopen because of this president s failed response to the pandemic. There is still no testing and Contact Tracing strategy or science based plan that we know other countries are using successfully to combat covid19. Now, the daily number of new cases in the United States is exceeding 60,000. 60,000, much higher than when the pandemic first caused schools to close nationwide in march. The centers for Disease Control and prevention has made clear that fully reopening schools carries the highest rates of creating new spikes of covid19 infections. We had hoped to have cdc here today to discuss what best practices could help safely reopen Americas Schools when the white house refused to let its officials testify at todays hearing. While initial studies suggest students are less likely to contract covid19 and suffer serious illness across the country outbreak at summer camp said and even among infants make clear we do not know enough about the risk for children. And the Cancer Foundation analysis estimates that 1. 5 million teachers, nearly 1 in 4 have conditions to put them at higher risk of serious illness if they contract covid19. Risk can be mitigated and tragedies can be prevented but it requires a significant federal investment to help schools take necessary safety precautions. Democrats have not been idle waiting for a miraculous disappearance of covid19. The cares act in march provided over 13 billion directly to schools to help deal with the of closure and transition to an Online Learning environment. In may the house passed a heroes act with another 60 billion in Emergency School funding to help schools buy personal protective equipment, sanitize classrooms and make special arrangements for students and teachers in high risk categories so schools can safely reopen. And this reopen and review Americas Schools act was included when the house passed the moving forward act and another investment of 130 billion that can be used to reconfigure and modernize schools. Unfortunately, our republican friends in the senate have chosen a person like the president who hide from the problem and taken no action under house proposals to help Americas Schools safely reopen. Were hearing this week the senate might finally be waking up to the enormity of the problem. I hope they shake themselves awake because time is not on our side. For many the school year should begin next month, but you cannot modernize the hvac system in a 40yearold School Without notice. According to the Superintendent Association the average district will need 1. 8 million of work before schools can safely reopen. The house voted to give them the money to get started months ago. The senate slept. Meanwhile instead of joining democrat tuesday deliver more funding to help schools reopen safely secretary devos and President Trump are threatening are threatening to strip funding from Public Schools that determine they cannot safely bring all students back into the classroom fulltime. They had it backwards. As the National Survey published monday found 86 of Americas School principals said its extremely important thats in quotes extremely important to get additional funding so their schools can safely reopen. And thats just the opposite of the administrations threat to defund schools. And to be clear the president has no Legal Authority to with hold school funds that congress appropriated. And i should also note that colleagues now believe that the Trump Administration should act as a National School board that courses schools into reopening for full time instruction regardless of local Health Conditions. Meanwhile the Education Department has no plan no plan at all for transitioning students back to inperson instruction safely. Instead it is blaming teachers and administrators for not doing enough. So well be listening today to National Leaders and want to make sure congress provides meaningful assistance to Americas Schools. I thank our witnesses in advance for their advice and i now yield back to mr. Allen for the purpose of an opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Reopening american schools has dominated family conversations around the country the last few weeks. The good news is science is on our side and federal agencies like the centers for Disease Control and prevention and state agencies like the Georgia Department of Public Health have provided detailed reports on how we can reopen schools safely. I hope during todays hearing we can put political finger pointing aside and put our childrens interests first while we discuss not if but how we can safely reopen schools this fall. I know both my democratic and republican colleagues agree that students are being harmed by the physical closure of schools and that we need to provide the option of inperson instruction. As we gear up for a new school year this fall theres a country how to reopen our nations schools safely, needs to be a top priority for this committee. This past spring more than 55 Million Students were affected by covid19 School Closures. That number accounts for approximately 97 of students nationwide. The result, well, the numbers speak for themselves. The collaborative for student growth projected some students could experience as much as a 50 reduction in typical learning gains as a result of School Closures. Another analysis conducted by mckenzie and company, a Consulting Group found that when all the impacts of covid19 are taken into account the average student could fall seven months behind academically. As leader mccarthy argued we cannot afford to let a generation miss out on being taught. President trump also recognizes the vital importance of safely reopening Americas Schools. Sadly, learning loss isnt the only challenge students face due to School Closures. This pandemic and subsequent School Closures have dramatically reduced interactions between Vulnerable Children and trusted adults while exacerbating conditions that contribute to child abuse and neglect such as financial strain and social isolation School Closures diminish educators ability to serve these vulnerable students. In addition for some Children School is the only place where they receive nutritious meals on a consistent basis. According to the department of agriculture more than 30 million children in the u. S. Count on schools for free or low cost meals. So when schools and Child Care Centers close children miss out on essential food services. Lets not forget the economic down side of keeping schools closed. If children cant attend School Parents cant return to work. In fact, the Brookings Institution args the world could lose as much as 10 trillion over the coming generation as a result of School Closures today. School closures also disproportionately impact the economic wellbeing of lower income and single parent households. While families with multiple workers may be able to have one working adult scale back in their hours or quit their job to take on caregiving duties full time, this is unlikely to be fesable for all families especially those already struggling financially during this economic downturn. In may the cdc released guidance on reopening schools that includes ways in which schools can help protect students, teachers, administrators and staff. These guidelines recognize that each school is unique and there will be no one size fits all solution to reopening. Given that schools vary in their location, size, structure, the cdc recommends that School Officials should determine in collaboration with state and local Health Officials whether and how to implement cdc guidance. More over, the American Academy of pediatrics also released guidance for schools. They strongly advocated all policies considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school. What do educators think . The American Federation of teachers found that 76 of educators surveyed would be comfortable returning if Certain Health and safety conditions were met at their school. This includes daily cleaning and sanitizing of school facilities, additional protections for atrisk students and staff and availability of protective equipment. These are steps we can and should take to safely reopen our schools. Thats why this morning i introduced the educational flexibility for families act. Legislation that requires k12 schools to provide an option for students to safely attend inperson classes for the Upcoming School year in order to be eligible for any federal assistance. My bill would ensure that the option for inperson learning is on the table and available for families around the country who want their children to safely return to the classroom this fall. Im proud of the educational leaders in my district who are committed families the flexibility they need this school year whether its in the classroom, dins learning,Distance Learning, home schooling. The health and future of our nations students depend on it. I thank our witnesses for testifying on this important topic today, and look forward to hearing from them about the measures we can take to safely reopen americas classrooms this fall. And i yield back. Thank you, Ranking Member allen, for that opening statement. All the members who wish to insert written statements to the record may do so by submitting them to the clerk electronically by microsoft by august 26th, 2020. First is the superintendent of the Dallas School district. He served as the dallas isd superintendent since superintendent since 2015. Hes first person of the texas School Administrators, a proud graduate of Independence School district and also got a doctorate in education. Next is the president of the national pta, the nations oldest and largest volunteer Child Advocacy association. A Leadership Development expert from modesa, texas brought almost 20 years of experience at all levels of the pta, a mother of three and grandmother of four , shes a dedicated advocate of children no matter their demographics, ethnicity or household income. Next, the commissioner of education for the state of tennessee. She comes from a family of educators and is committed to increasing access to excellent education for all children. She began her work as a High School History and economics teacher in baltimore. She was sworn in as the education commissioner on february 1, 2019. And prior to joining the Tennessee Department of education commissioner shiwin served on the texas agency, earned her masters of arts and teachings at John Hopkins University and phd from Claremont University in california. Last is dr. Sean oleary, md, university of colorado. A doctor of pediatrics at the University Colorado of school of medicine and childrens hospital. Hes an accomplished researcher with over 120 peer review publication. His research focuses on vaccine preventable diseases. Dr. Oleary is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health and serves as the vicechairman on the committee of Infectious Diseases for the aap. He also serves as liaison to the Cdc Advisory Committee on immunization practices for the pediatric Infectious Disease society. We appreciate the witnesses for participating today and look forward to your testimony. Let me remind our witnesses we have read your written statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record. Pursuant to rule 7b each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a five minute summary of your written statement. And let me remind the witnesses that pursuant to title 18 of the u. S. Code section 1001 it is illegal to knowingly and willfully falsify any statement, representation, document or material fact presented to congress or otherwise cover up the material fact. The testimony staff will keep track of time and will use a chime to say when no is left and one is up entirely. A longer chime when time is up. Please be attentive to the time and wrap up when your time is over and reveal your system. For the witnesses participating re remotely if any of you experience technical difficulties in your testimony or later on in the hearing you should stay connected to the platform. Make sure youre on the mute button and immediately call the committee site to the director. We will let all the witnesses make their presentations before moving onto questions. When answering a question please remember to mute your system. And i will first recognize the doctor. Sir, you have five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, do appreciate the opportunity to testify in front of you this morning. Im the superintendent o