Trump trashes CDC school-reopening guidelines — then CDC updates them

On Wednesday morning, 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.

During a press briefing a few hours later, Vice President Mike Pence said the CDC would issue new guidance on reopening schools next week. Both he and the CDC’s director said the agency’s recommendations should not be viewed as a barrier to returning children to classrooms.

“Remember it’s guidance, it’s not requirements, and its purpose is to facilitate the reopening and keeping open the schools in this country,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said.

Still, Pence said the White House would be “very respectful” of states and local communities who determine they cannot fully reopen schools.

He also downplayed Trump’s threat with withhold funding, suggesting instead the administration would work with Congress to encourage and incentivize schools to reopen.

“We’re here to help,” Pence said. “We don’t want federal guidance to be a substitute for state and local laws and rules and guidance. We’re here to assist with the shared objective, which I think is shared by every parent in America, which is we want to get our kids back. We want to get them back in the classroom.”

“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,” said Trump, who has been anxious to reopen America to kick-start the economy and otherwise move on from the pandemic, despite its resurgence.

But educators and administrators have called on the federal government to supplement funding for personal protective equipment and other resources, such as additional school buses, to reconfigure classrooms in order to safely reopen.

“Congress provides federal education funding to support some of the most vulnerable young people in our country,” said Evan Hollander, a spokesman for the Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. “The President has no authority to cut off funding for these students, and threatening to do so to prop up his flailing campaign is offensive.”

A Senate Republican source told CNN that Trump has little authority to unilaterally cut off funding for schools. But if Trump wanted, the source said, the Trump administration could issue an interim final rule to block funding enacted in the March CARES Act for schools that don’t reopen. The law provided $13 billion for school districts to cover Covid-19 costs. But going that route to block the funding administratively would undoubtedly lead to a court battle.

Republicans in the Senate are planning to unveil a stimulus bill that includes federal spending to reopen schools and childcare facilities, and haven’t settled on a price tag yet. But it could be more than $30 billion for school districts — which superintendents have called for — to cover the costs of reopening and ensuring their schools can deal with measures to limit the spread of the virus. Democrats have also included proposals to get schools reopened in their stimulus proposals.

“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.