Donald Trump, or the acting president to follow him, shall by executive order force elementary schools which have gone to a “full virtual learning only option” during the Covid-19 epidemic to offer a child care voucher to single parents and parents of two income households.

FINDINGS OF FACT

It is a real and true thing that many single working parents and parents within two income households cannot implement distance learning for elementary school children who must be supervised while still holding a job. It is real and true that many single parents and parents of two income households would be forced to quit their jobs in order to meet the demands of “distance learning only” mandates. It is real and true that the United States is a world leader in single parent households and two income households, and this cannot simply be undone whether we would like to do so or not. It is real and true that marginalized communities and poor communities are disproportionately represented among single parents and two income households, and that “distance learning only” models will severely damage these families and communities, both economically and educationally. It is apparent and obvious that the people who need face to face school the most will be the most damaged by schools choosing to move to “distance only” models. “Distance learning only” will cause devastation of the poor both economically and educationally, in a way the United States has not seen since the crack epidemic.

It is further true that a presidential executive order is the only possible recourse to avoid this devastation.

The warring public factions around “closing schools” at the ground level have taken ideological positions which cannot be resolved, and school systems are stuck in the middle without a way to resolve them. Even though most communities in the United States have deaths-per-day-per-million counts that are a fraction of communities in Europe (such as Denmark) when they opened schools, and even though the broad consensus among scientists, doctors, and policy makers in the United States, Europe, and world-wide, is that reopening schools, particular elementary schools, is safer than reopening restaurants, bars, offices and workplaces, and even though the reopening of schools in Europe and worldwide was championed by the liberals within those foreign nations, the faction within the United States wishing to close schools believes a picture of the world based on fear propagated by social media that does not match the broad consensus.

Even if currently "virtual only" schools were to reopen in the near term, this vocal group would clamor to shut them down again the first time a student contracted Covid-19 from a parent, would threaten to sue the schools if their child contracted Covid-19, and will generally destroy any attempt to reopen in the districts which have gone fully virtual. Some are claiming to want schools closed until their counties have had "zero new cases for 14 days." This means that these schools will never, ever reopen in those areas, and further means that parents within those areas without access to childcare must plan for a future where face to face public school does not exist. 

Single parents and parents of two income households must have another childcare option, and are also the least likely to be able to afford one. The tax money collected at the local level for childcare must be reapportioned so that they have access to it, and the will to reapportion it does not exist at the local level in areas of the United States that have pushed "virtual only" policies. Federal pressure for a voucher option is unfortunately the only possible resolution in these communities.

VOUCHER SPECIFICS

• The voucher shall only apply to school districts who have abdicated their responsibility to provide an option for face to face child care because of Covid-19.
• The value of the voucher shall be determined by dividing the annual school budget by the number of students in the school district, and shall come from the coffers of the school system.
• The voucher shall be paid in cash to single parents or parents of two income households, so they can spend the cash as they see fit for daycare, tutoring, or a private school that will provide face to face learning and child care services commensurate with what the elementary schools used to provide.
• The school systems shall pay for the voucher by (A) laying off staff unnecessary for their empty buildings, by (B) renegotiating teachers union contracts which are no longer valid during “distance learning only” periods, or by (C) renting their empty school facilities to overloaded private schools and other programs willing to stay open and provide essential childcare services, which are currently being flooded. The voucher shall not come from federal funds, because public schools are already funded, and are not using their funds in the manner the taxpayers intended them to be used.
• At the school's discretion, the voucher may be extended to all families in need, or to levels above elementary school.
• To enforce the voucher executive order, the federal government shall withhold federal educational funds from school districts who do not issue the voucher.

BROAD CONSENSUS

This is merely a snapshot of the consensus, and is not comprehensive.

The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends opening schools, and issued ordinary and reasonable guidance to do so. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/?fbclid=IwAR0_iMyqE_FXBM2PwTUis7NDDq8OVNAfMcHF3XE8Knoixx7Oy8MyayWyyBo#.XvdRe88-HUo.email

The Harvard School of Public Health mirrors the AAP on this topic.

https://schools.forhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2020/06/Harvard-Healthy-Buildings-Program-Schools-For-Health-Reopening-Covid19-June2020.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2R8ASdIns4f1p1U02wYKjV9zNKNwhk9CXg25ZeKJVpElCxZx09Kr1FVpE

They have come to these conclusions because of the broad scientific consensus on how this virus affects children. Children do not get infected as easily, and closing schools will have a comparatively small impact on overall transmissivity of the disease. (Nature)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0962-9?fbclid=IwAR0DM-WoHX5tcEp5WU_UzKW8BwFjcXWXa7aGsFdzzmGeCt1ir3LpM8lt1r4

Even though child cases are mild, and only make up 5% of overall cases, when you break down the cases among children, elementary schoolers only account for 15 percent of the child cases. (0.75% of total cases) Less than 1% of children require intensive care when they do catch it. (UCLA, Ohio State)

https://www.uptodate.com/contents/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-clinical-manifestations-and-diagnosis-in-children?fbclid=IwAR2G0ANgfVhQfixk1BCrvLHqi0w4XUm91PTGul64kiA9Eu5UNV_BoNb3g7w

Numerous international contact tracing studies show that children are not super spreaders. (British Medical Journal)

https://adc.bmj.com/content/105/7/618?fbclid=IwAR0vztYOjceorahv3ELzGFvXOTeS2UgUvzLdZXlCF4lMk42NPyoLohcN7JM

In countries with comprehensive testing and contact tracing such as Iceland, they have not found a single instance of children spreading Covid-19 to adults.

https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/blog/hunting-down-covid-19/

Children are infected mainly from inside family clusters. In a Switzerland study, 92% of family cases showed adults were symptomatic before the children, and they could not confirm child to adult transmission happened in the remaining 8% of cases. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/07/08/peds.2020-1576

In a Chinese study, 95.6% of child infections were shown to be originating from an adult family member, and no evidence was found revealing transmission of the virus from children to other children or to adults. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/146/1/e20200961

“The evidence to support national closure of schools to combat COVID-19 is very weak and data from influenza outbreaks suggest that school closures could have relatively small effects on a virus with COVID-19's high transmissibility and apparent low clinical effect on school children. At the same time, these data also show that school closures can have profound economic and social consequences.” (The Lancet)

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30095-X/fulltext?fbclid=IwAR3wPbMkxxEBUxccmWFzZr2URXGxYiCigiEHJb0R0-AGTXSCAVOlIS6kx3A

Extensive research into the “summer learning gap” shows that socioeconomically marginalized communities achievement is more damaged by gaps in schooling than highly socioeconomically performing communities. (American Sociological Review)

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000312240707200202?fbclid=IwAR3k5Jhed6BezzsYat7I5pj0mg3Nl4mZiAxTbg-7_X9H97-WavLGPQxaFvE

German studies of schools that reopened in the spring showed no spreading between children, no hot spots developing, and a low incidence of children becoming infected even when they had an adult family member infected.

https://news.yahoo.com/german-study-finds-no-evidence-164704005.html?soc_src=community&soc_trk=fb