Of millions diagnostic tests school plans should last for at least one year while the government pursues a vaccine at warp speed faster than we have ever done thate before the nobody expects vaccine this august the second half should be better able to provide more test, more treatments better Contact Tracing and hopefully we should have a vaccine in the fall of 2021 before we begin to approach normal. Several Reasons School have the advantage to provide a safe environment for students and faculty is younger people have been less hurt by coalbed 19 than older people although doctor fauci told our committee we should be careful to assume that young people are not at risk second, schools are generally oolll communities but generally supervised and monitored and they could be traced if a child becomes sick then the classmates can be tested and for individual schools are able to remain open schools are not unfamiliar with outbreaks of flu or other illnesses that have temporary closure of individual schools while others continue to be open those environments pose challenges as well first there is not as much extra space that are elementary and secondary schools as there is most College Campuses to make social distancing more difficult. Second School Administrators face more rigid rules as a result theci state local union rules and regulations are to make changes to the academic calendar and school size and schedules would be more difficult and a mask wearing culture is hard especially with the youngest children to see facial expressions is also important for Young Children to socialize and self regulate with masks for some learning for Early Elementary School children rigorous hygiene is not always easy for children and then at night they go home to expose other adults even systematic testing of 55 million children is a lot of tests. Today nine out of ten families with children have at least one parent and those with children two thirds have both aparents employed according to bureau of labor statistics for many Children School is the safest place they will be out they also while 30 Million Students receive a school lunch 70 percent qualify for free or reduced price meals they have a responsibility to make our schools among the safest communities in the country doing so will help the country move back toward normalcy. Senator murray. Thank you mr. Chairman i appreciate all of our witnesses being with us today asyo well. And thank you to the Committee Staff working extra hard today to make thisnk hearing possible so we can stay socially distant again how inspired i aman by the young people protecting against Police Brutality nationwide calling for change and accountability and justice i hope their urgency and resolve is an example to all of us here in Congress Today we will discuss a quality Public Education the middle of a Global Pandemic coalbed 19 has appended schools truly that are unprecedented with parents and students and as this crisis was first hitting my home state of washington, i got a text from my daughter telling me her School District had closed because of the coronavirus outbreak. She didnt know what to do or what that meant to take care of her kids while she was still working what that meant for their learning or as a senator i had no answers. Wasnt long before nearly every School District, every educator, every parentt and student had the same questions to challenge schools and families the past school year were unimaginable. Schools and School Districts heare now facing the biggest cuts to state and local revenues that we have seen a long time or facing increasing cost as a result of this pandemic its especially important to recognize it hasnt been easy for anyone communities and families of more resources have had more capacity so we talk about ways to reopen the schools for educators and staff the responses not only Public Health to drive decisionmaking but also to ensure every child has for the pandemic covid19 has a disproportionate impact on the black community in communities of color and to show the exasperated inequity in the Education System before the pandemic data projects that black students and latino students lost over nine months of learning compared to white students were projected to lose six months of learning because of this estimates show that achievement gap could grow between 15 and 20 percent in the country we cannot let covid19 continue to make things worse when it comes to the education of students of color and those of low income and those experiencing homelessness English Learners and migrant students so when it comes to reopening safely and as i said before and cannot say enough schools and School Districts must follow the advice of local Public Health officials and let science drive decisionmaking at minimum Public Health experts say they should be able to provide widespread testing and Contact Tracing in every single case of the virus the federal government should also start planning for the distribution of a vaccine rwhich is critical for schools to return to normal but until we have a safe and effective vaccine to see School Leaders engaged in detailed scenario planning because before they send their children back to the classroom they need to know schools have thought through every possible scenario and how much we dont know how to trend on children transmit the disease we need to look at how vulnerable parents and feguardians send their kids back to school there are countless questions to be answered before they can physically aopen safely School Districts and schools cannot do this alone they need indepth actionable guidance from the federal government on best practices to ensure safety of students and Educators School staff and the Broader Community to measure learning loss among students in Public Health protocols to protect student and staff so when they are able to open physically and operate virtually or use a hybrid approach to use quality and equitable and incremental hell. And then has further exacerbated the inequities and those who are sharing the iphone and not even sure if they can afford that. And that is just one small example. And then to be under resourced and the links to the online material to experience homelessness across the country and with transportation to pick up school meals is not always an option. And the reckoning ofnc the racism is important to ensure every child has access to Mental Health and support. And when it comes to delivering of course we have to do better because if we dont the achievement gap will be so hard to close will undoubtedly widen and we cannot let that happen. We need massive investment in her schools with the confederation of teachers that they will need billions more on top of what we already know what iso needed for basic things like cleaning supplies and ppe and the work of the National Education association. And with the weeks ago. And then to continue to push for action. And then we do need to hear from secretary of education about her efforts on the broad interpretation of this provision. So each of us here Us Department of education to be all in to rise to the mass the challenges and we look forward to those conversations today and i would like to ask consent to put in the hearing record upland from the American Federation of teachers to safely we open our schools and the National Education association about state and local budget cuts or the need for Additional Resources. Thank you for your Opening Statement and to get back to School Safely under the leadership of doctor schwinn the Tennessee Department of education has developed resources including School Closure toolkits and instructional guides for programming on pbs. Doctors when willl be convening a group to support communities and teachers are second guessed nebraska commissioner of education also chosen to serve as president elect of the board of directors under his direction with the department of education to create a website launched it suggest several options for districts to consider for ensuring the schools opening safely this small. The superintendent of Denver Public schools under the tleadership Denver Public schools has announced they have been exploring a variety of options to safely bring students back to school i will now turn to senator murray. Thank you mr. Chairman we are lucky enough to have former secretary of education under president t barack obama during his tenure i had the pleasure to work closely withhe him and has been a steadfast champion for Public Education to give every child the opportunity they deserve and im glad i have a chance to hear from himbl today serving on department of Education Commission acting deputy secretary of s education and new york state Education Commissioner the High School Social studies teacher and principal currently is the president and ceo of the Education Trust at the National Nonprofit and then to identify to close the achievement gap holding a bachelor of arts and jd and ma in teaching and a doctrine of education his life story is a testament to the power of Public Education so thank you so much doctor king for being here like forward to your testimony. Thank you again for being here each witness please summarize your testimony in aboutn five minutes which will lead more time for questions from the senators. Good morning members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify at ertodays hearin hearing. This has been an unbelievable period of time in tennessee for students and families and as educators and studentstn navigating learning we must now consider the challenges to reopen schools. To be clear, this is complicated any decision wesi make no onesizefitsall solution what might be best for one is not for the other interstate we have a major reason region and a county with the first positive case last week looking ahead to School Reopen look at the challenges reopening in tennessee and the way we plan to address them. Number one health and safety of the School Community in number two. Bridging the Digital Divide high quality academic and resources. First, School Reopening must but the health and safety of children and their teachers and communities under the governors leadership a National Leader when comes to testing foror covid we will ensure that any School Personnel or anyone interested in testing can do so. To support districts the department will work with partners to put aside ppe had no touch the monitors with a suite ofr resources on how to implement safe and Healthy Practices in schools we need Realistic Solutions nutrition , classroom support and transportation. The department is committed to providing resources and working with teachers and kids. Theres almost 1 millions students in the Public Schools we have responsibility to support all of them as if they were ourur own we make promises to families every day children will be safe in our care with access to highquality education we must do everything we can to keep that promise. Second, we must address thend Digital Divide. Districts we 24 centuries Solutions Access to broadband and professional development our own governor references not having internet on his farm. That is reality for all too true for students and teachers but especially for the rule and most vulnerable population. And the department is giving surface on sufficient care. With a free and appropriate education. And with that centric strategy routed to high quality academic a opportunity. We must stay committed to address anything that we can we know the impact of last learning especially fort children and to be especially focused on the younger students and that at a distance is incredibly hard to do ask any Kindergarten Teacher the department recently reopen the framework and will release over 20 additional toolkits for educators to use. Students and educators must be given the resources and support they need. Must be about helping them thrive. So whether it is to socially distance classrooms tennessee has shown my collectiveab commitment and i realize that all of these are not small things and a matter for kids. We must keep people safe and kids educated our job and responsibility is to figure out how to do that well we are deeply appreciative to jumpstart those necessary needs across the state to appreciate what has been done i was still lies ahead these challenges i seeee opportunity and our kids my own included to meet those head on with optimism and courage. Our kids are counting on as i look forward to your questions later in the hearing. [inaudible] members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify im honored to participate with the critical discussion of where we need to go as a country with the Education System this fall to rival the pandemic of the dramatic longterm impact this is the Inflection Point to lay their that persistent inequities of the Education System and every sector from health care to justice. And every other black lives lost and i worked my whole career and then ultimately ensure equity Closing School statewide was not something i anticipated as part of my role of commission and the earliest days of closing annual more difficult task would reopen schools late march and early april we identified Summer Learning to focus energy on the recovery and reopening scenarios and by april 15 i was publicly announcing efforts underway to plan for the fall semester on may 8th we had launched nebraska to have a recovery approach organized around three majoror pillars and conditions to focus on facilities and wellness and continuity of learning and transitions back into education. Nebraska small School Districts in the most remote areas of the state while the largest in omaha exceeds 53000 students additionally nebraska has counties that yet officially experience a case but others have been affected to the worst per capita cases in the country we have several working groups that are developing regional and local plans with local Public Health officials School Leaders are committed to balancing the difficult task of safe opening with communities and staff inl mind there are a few onesizefitsall moments and it is increasingly clear that guidance needs to be available for local schools and Health Officials to customize local conditions and environments. Ea i continue to engage in productive dialogue with currents of Disability Advocates to provide a afford. Schoolage provide necessary education. Although i know that broadband is not in the jurisdiction of this committee, it is apparent that the lack of Broadband Access is a huge inequity for many of our students and households. Im concerned that the Economic Impact of the dynamic will result in sustained pre through 12 funding. This is a perfect storm as we face increased needs and decreased resources. I cannot express enough how proud i am of nebraska. Their amazing talented individuals. But in recent monthses i have al stepped up an incredible unprecedented ways to serve our students while we have many challenges ahead. Remain confident in the abilities of local educators to make theur impossible possible. But we also mustt protect our educators. Teachers will continue to be in front of lines and we must address individual accommodations and also limit an already strained more force. This will require additional contract time for teachers and educational staff that may be able to go on beyond Normal School day. Or think this committee no members of Congress Pretty schools are addressing many of these with these funds and securing Critical Services and infrastructure for the recovery. As a