As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12
TASA Asks State for Consistency, Clarity & Local Control
Schools Prepare for their Openings
Amid Questions and Uncertainties
State officials spent the summertime lead-up to the start of the 2020-21 school year providing schools with a sometimes dizzying array of frequently confusing and conflicting advice and directives.
read more
Other Coronavirus News
Condolences
At press time, Education Week included the names of five Texas K-12 educators and other school workers in a list of school employees in the nation who are known to have died due to the coronavirus.
The most recent Texas pandemic-linked deaths reportedly occurred on the same day (Aug. 5) — Flour Bluff ISD Superintendent
David Freeman and San Antonio ISD kindergarten teacher Melissa Martinez.PPE Distributions
Gov. Abbott announced (Aug. 4) that Texas has distributed, free of charge, personal protective equipment (PPE) amounting to more than 59.4 million face masks, 24,000 thermometers, 568,000 gallons of hand sanitizer and 511,000 face shields, with promises of more supplies to come.
That didn’t impress the
Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA), which — along with the state’s other major teacher organizations — has been highly critical of the governor’s return-to-school COVID-19 pronouncements. “59.4 million masks are roughly 11 masks per student. That might get students through the first week of school,” TSTA said in a statement.San Antonio media quoted officials of local districts as saying that to be on the safe side, they are ordering PPE equipment on their own — with one district buying smaller masks for the youngest of their students because the ones supplied by the state are too large for them.
The governor announced (July 27) he has waived STAAR-related promotion requirements for fifth- and eighth-grade students. Although more flexibility is also being given to allow STAAR online testing on flexible dates, there are no current plans to completely halt STAAR testing for the 2020-21 school year as was done for 2019-20.
The governor and other legislative leaders announced (July 17) Texas will allocate $200 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to the TEA to buy eLearning devices and home Internet solutions to enable student learning during the pandemic.
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar said in a letter (July 20) to lawmakers — and in a press release — that he predicts the state revenues by the end of the current biennium (ending Aug. 31, 2021) will be about $11.6 million less than initially estimated, creating a budget deficit of $4.6 billion.
The culprit, Hegar said, was a combination of the still-unknown effects of the economic impact of the pandemic and the recent volatility in oil prices and production. Lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session will likely have to grapple with the shortfall by either raising taxes or reducing spending, Hegar added.
The UIL Medical Advisory Committee during a special meeting (Aug. 7) unanimously passed a requirement that students who test positive for COVID-19 must be cleared by a physician before they can return to UIL activities, which includes athletics, cheer, band and other activities.
The league in July released an updated schedule for the fall UIL activity season that allows 1A to 4A schools to start on time in August, but delayed 5A and 6A schools with football by specifying start dates to practice of Sept. 7 and to hold games starting Sept. 24.
Meanwhile, the
Texas High School Coaches Association reported (Aug. 11) the results of a survey of its members following summer conditioning activities for student athletes. Coaches from 314 schools with 65,290 student athletes attending summer camps responded. The survey reflected that 278 athletes (0.425 percent) tested positive for COVID-19, and there were four cases that required hospitalization and there were no deaths.
Only four of the 278 reported cases were traced to conditioning camps, according to the survey.