COMMENTARY: Dueling crises require renewed commitment to public schools

To call this past year and the current one a roller coaster, hardly does it justice. Texans are enduring a dueling crisis with the persistence of COVID-19 and now recovery from the devastating winter storms. And, these same issues continue to strain and stress our public schools and our students.

It’s time to steady our schools with the funding and support our students deserve.

Texas lawmakers have signaled strong support to preserve the state’s investment in public schools passed with broad, bipartisan support in 2019. State leaders also signaled their commitment to hold schools harmless when enrollments declined during an unprecedented crisis year by delivering on funding based on historical enrollment data.

That’s good news.

But, simply reaffirming the commitment to House Bill 3 and holding schools harmless for temporary enrollment declines isn’t sufficient. The scale of the dual crises schools face cannot be understated, and state leaders must ensure federal relief money intended for public schools is delivered to schools, not used to fill other state budget holes.

Since the start of the pandemic, our Congress has approved $17.9 billion in COVID-19 relief for public schools. But here in the Rio Grande Valley we’re in limbo, still waiting to receive and put those funds to work for our students.

Texas initially received $1.3 billion in federal stimulus funding for public schools back in the Spring of last year. Back then, state leaders chose to supplant those federal dollars, meaning they swapped state money with federal dollars, leaving schools without additional support to help schools respond to the pandemic.

Another $5.5 billion in a second round relief funds passed late last year is now being considered by the Texas legislature. And, the latest $12.4 billion in federal relief for schools was just signed into law.

So, the $17.9 billion question is: will schools like ours ever see money intended to support recovery and expenses from the pandemic?

For our communities alone those funds would mean our districts being able to invest funds in remediation for student learning loss due to the pandemic and supporting our students, teachers, and staff with social emotional needs due to pandemic. They would also allow for us to continue solving barriers our students face to accessing the Internet.

We also would like to continue serving our communities. Schools took immediate steps to ensure children of all ages continued to receive meals in a safe manner. Many are offering curbside pick-up at the campuses and/or are using school buses to deliver meals straight into neighborhoods.

And those are just the first thoughts that come to mind. Additional funds also means continuing to protect against COVID-19 by purchasing air purifying respirator systems for air conditioning units, rolling shields for teachers, and plexiglass for office staff.

We cannot afford to continue depriving our educators of what they need to effectively respond to this crisis and to reach and serve all students. As the crisis mounts and the pandemic persists, we must ensure our state leaders step up to do what’s right for our youngest Texans.

It’s not simply about sustaining previous year’s funding, it’s about additional dollars to ensure improved broadband access, to help prevent and address learning loss, to extend instructional time for students and support for our teachers.

Let’s stand together, Texas, and make sure our state leaders heed the call: federal dollars intended for public schools should go to public schools. Invest in our future while addressing the immediate crisis we face today.

Dr. Alicia Noyola is the superintendent of Harlingen CISD. Dr. Carolina “Carol” G. Perez is the superintendent of Mission CISD. Dr. Gonzalo Salazar is the superintendent of Los Fresnos CISD. Dr. J.A. Gonzalez is the superintendent of McAllen ISD. Dr. Jorge L. Arredondo is the superintendent of PSJA ISD. Dr. Rene Gutierrez is the superintendent of Brownsville ISD.