Biden’s Underwhelming School Reopening Goal

Two studies show a school reopening goal detailed by the Biden administration for his first 100 days may have already been met before President Joe Biden took office.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki this week added some fine print to Biden’s vow to reopen a majority of schools, saying the president meant there would be in-person teaching at least one day a week in more than 50% of schools by day 100. While there are no federal data on school reopenings, two studies that looked at random samples of school districts around the country estimate that such a threshold already has been surpassed.

Introducing his health team on Dec. 8, then president-elect Biden unveiled the school reopening objective as one of three key goals for his first 100 days in office.

Biden, Dec. 8: The third thing I’m going to ask in the 100 days, it should be a national priority to get our kids back into school and keep them in school. If Congress provides the funding we need to protect students, educators and staff; if states and cities put strong public health measures in place that we all will follow, then my team will work to see that a majority of our schools can be opened by the end of my first 100 days. That’s right. We will look to have the most schools open that we can possibly in 100 days if Congress provides the funding we need.

Biden reiterated that goal in a speech in Delaware on Dec. 29, this time narrowing the goal to kindergarten through eighth grade, and again warning that it would only be possible with “tens of billions of dollars” in additional school funding from Congress.

Biden, Dec. 29: Another 100-day challenge is opening most of our K-8 schools by the end of the first 100 days in the spring. Look, we can only do that if Congress provides the necessary funding, so we get the schools, districts, communities, and states the resources they need for those so many things that aren’t there already in a tight budget. They need funding for testing to help reopen schools, more funding for transportation so students can maintain social distances on buses, they need it for school building for additional cleaning service, protective equipment, ventilation systems. This is going to require an additional tens of billions of dollars to get this done.