President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off the funding of America’s schools that refuse to reopen, saying states do not want to reopen schools only for political reasons.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the American President expressed his disagreement with the US Centers from Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines for safely reopening schools, calling their recommendations “very tough” and “expensive.”
He also threatened he “may cut off funding” to schools that do not reopen, though the bulk of public school funding comes from state and local governments.
“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” the President tweeted.
The CDC’s guidelines encourage hygiene, the use of cloth face coverings and staying home when appropriate. It also suggests staggered scheduling, a back-up staffing plan, modified seating layouts to allow social distancing, physical barriers and closing of communal spaces.
Trump, who has advocated for reopening states as cases surge, said on Tuesday that he would pressure governors to reopen schools this fall during a discussion with educators, administrators, students, and parents.
“We hope that most schools are going to be open,” Trump said at a White House event, baselessly claiming that some places will want to stay closed “for political reasons.”
“They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” the President alleged without evidence. “No way.”
“We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open,” Trump said, who has been anxious to reopen America to kickstart the economy and otherwise move on from the pandemic, despite its resurgence.
Trump told Nextar in an interview on Tuesday that he had time to consider school reopening.
“Well, we have a long time to think about the school stuff. Because, you know. But we want to have the schools open,” Trump said. “I would say that when we talk about the fall, that seems like a long time. It’s a long time.”
But many school districts in the south, where coronavirus cases are rising, begin the school year in just a few short weeks.
And while the President is hopeful the pandemic will improve over the next month, a trusted model from the University of Washington is forecasting an uptick in deaths this fall and increased its death toll projection to over 208,000 deaths by November.
