A Florida school district wanted to wait to reopen school. DeSantis threatened to cut its funding.
Florida is making a high-stakes gamble on school openings, with superintendents pressured into decisions that some fear will result in outbreaks of covid-19. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis this week forced one of the country's largest school districts to reopen campuses by the end of August, threatening to withhold up to $200 million in state aid.
The Republican’s administration told Hillsborough County — the eighth-largest system in the country — that it would lose state aid if it did not drop plans to reopen schools remotely for the first month of the 2020-2021 school year. So the county revised its plan and will start with just one week of remote learning. Then parents will choose whether to send their children into school buildings.
“It was very clear. If we do not follow their emergency order, we will be financially hindered,” Hillsborough Superintendent Addison Davis said Thursday. “We would forfeit close to $200 million. We just can’t do that. That would bankrupt us. It would put us in a terrible situation financially.”
DeSantis, a strong ally of President Trump, who wants schools opened, cited Martin County Superintendent Laurie Gaylord’s view of reopening schools as a mission “akin to a Navy SEAL operation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/florida-coronavirus-schools/2020/08/14/a37b39a8-dd99-11ea-b205-ff838e15a9a6_story.html
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