School leaders, not health officials, will decide when to start classes, Texas AG says
How and when schools start classes is up to school officials, not public health authorities, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.
Paxton issued non-binding guidance that states public health authorities may not close schools “for the sole purpose of preventing future COVID-19 infections.”
This comes one week after Tarrant County’s top health officials issued an order requiring the first six weeks of school to be online only because of the growth in coronavirus cases. Health authorities said their goal was to keep students at home until several weeks after the Labor Day holiday to avoid a potential spike in cases that could spread through schools.
“Education of our children is an essential Texas value and there is no current statewide order prohibiting any school from opening,” Paxton said in a statement. “While local health authorities may possess some authority to close schools in limited circumstances, they may not issue blanket orders closing all schools on a purely preventative basis.
“That decision rightfully remains with school system leaders.”
Paxton’s decision came in response to a request for guidance from Stephenville Mayor Doug Svien.
The Texas Education Agency had previously said that districts must provide daily on-campus classes. But on July 17, it relaxed those requirements and said that Texas schools could limit in-person classes for the first four weeks, and potentially the next four weeks, if their district granted a waiver.
The state agency said that schools could ban in-person classes, and not risk losing state funding, if ordered to do so “by an entity authorized to issue an order under state law.” Earlier this month a TEA spokesman confirmed that districts would still receive state funding if they were forced to close by order of a local health authority. The agency also listed a variety of safety measures schools should follow when they do open classrooms.
In the wake of Paxton’s letter, TEA reversed course and said Tuesday that remote instruction will no longer be funded if a local health authority issues a blanket order for schools in the area to close, as it “does not constitute a legally issued closure order.” The agency noted that other exceptions to allow state funding for remote instruction may apply, such as the option of limiting the number of students allowed on campus for the first four weeks if approved by a local school board.
Paxton’s office stressed that public health authorities are limited to addressing “specific, actual outbreaks of disease. School officials, both public and private, are the appropriate ones to decide whether, when, and how to open school.”
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said the three Tarrant County health authorities who signed last week’s order — Catherine Colquitt, Cynthia Simmons and Steve Martin — have been updated that their order has been suspended because it “exceeded the scope of their statutory authority.”
“The decision is now back in the laps of public school boards and private schools,” Whitley said during Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting. “I think that’s the right thing to do.”
He urged school officials to work with health authorities in deciding what to do about the upcoming school year.
The Star-Telegram reached out to Fort Worth area school districts after Paxton’s guidance was released. Several — including Arlington, HEB, Keller, Mansfield and Northwest — did not immediately respond. Here’s what some districts said they are doing now:
▪ Fort Worth school officials, who previously announced school would start Aug. 17, will discuss Paxton’s opinion in private and seek legal advice on how to proceed, a spokesman said.
▪ The Argyle school district wrote on Twitter that it is on schedule to begin in-person and online classes Aug. 17.
▪ The Grapevine-Colleyville school district sent a note Tuesday that it will review Paxton’s guidance and health data before making any decisions.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday, during a press conference in Corpus Christi to assess damage from Hurricane Hanna, stressed that school boards are best equipped to make decisions on school reopenings.
“There are so many different factors that differ from one school to another which is exactly why the best decision-making authority is going to be the local school board making decisions with the benefit of input from both local public health authorities as well as state health authorities,” he said.
When asked if he would allow districts to continue to limit in-person instruction past eight weeks, Abbott said it was too far down the road to know what the status of COVID-19 will be in Texas then.
“When dealing with a pandemic, with a constantly changing coronavirus, it’s important that government be as nimble as the coronavirus,” Abbott said. “And hence, we will maintain that flexibility in our education system, understanding that the first and foremost priority in this education year is going to be the health and safety of students, teachers and parents.”
As of Tuesday, 26,325 positive coronavirus cases have been reported in Tarrant County. That includes 349 deaths and 13,560 recoveries.
Public health director disappointed
Tarrant Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said he was disappointed in Paxton’s guidance on Tuesday.
The invalidation of the public health order “puts us in a very tough situation on how to help our community get through this process,” he said. “Currently, online schooling is the safest option. It’s the lowest risk option.
“After that, it is not a no-risk strategy,” he said. “If you open schools, and put a lot of kids together, there is going to be risk of spread.”
State Sen. Beverly Powell, D-Fort Worth, said she believes the local health authorities made the right decision.
“By relying on scientific information and informed advice, their decision was designed to protect children and educators from potential harm from COVID-19,” she said in a statement. “The letter issued by the Attorney General is not informed by what is best for public health — it is informed by politics.”
Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina issued a statement saying that Paxton sent a message to Texans that “raises more questions about reopening schools safely.”
Molida added that the association “has more confidence in the professionalism of local health officials and their determination to act in the best interests of all Texans, including our children. We have less confidence in Ken Paxton, whose primary goal as attorney general has been to advance an ideological agenda.”
Parents and students react
Tuesday’s opinion by Paxton was good news to several people who showed up at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting to talk about the need to get students back into school. A group of a few dozen parents also protested the recent public health order on Monday.
“I’m just excited about being in the classroom again with teachers and students,” said Harper Wiley, an incoming 11th grader at Paschal High School in Fort Worth.
Wiley spoke to commissioners about how important it is to her to learn in person, especially since she has anxiety and ADHD. She said she performs better in person.
And she talked about how hard the end of the last school year was for her and her siblings, when schools closed and learning quickly flipped to online, with the goal of slowing the spread of coronavirus.
“I hope school is open on the 17th,” Wiley said.
Several members of a group of parents organized as Back to School — Back to Safety attended Tuesday’s meeting to ask Whitley to revoke or amend the recent order.
They worry the Tarrant County public health order would have left some at risk of child abuse or malnutrition because they couldn’t go to school. And they feared some students would fall behind and not be able to catch up.
“It gives us hope that they will be one step closer to opening school,” said Jennifer Treger, a mother of three children who attend school in Fort Worth, after learning about Paxton’s statement.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 12:54 PM.
