North Carolina Republicans push alternative school reopening bill
(The Center Square) – The North Carolina House is expected to consider a bill next week to allow certain school districts to resume full in-person learning with minimum social distancing.
House Bill 90, sponsored by Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, would allow schools in the city of Asheboro, Carteret, Haywood, Randolph and Yancey counties to resume in-person instruction under the state’s Plan A, which eliminates the need for 6 feet of social distancing.
House Republicans said additional counties could be added to the measure.
“There is no issue more vital to the health and well-being of children in North Carolina than letting them return to in-person learning as soon as possible,” McElraft said in a statement. “The General Assembly will pursue every available opportunity to address the devastating harm to our students that closed schools have caused. Our kids are not just failing – they are being failed by a refusal among elected leaders to let them learn.”
HB 90 was filed last month amid deliberations over Senate Bill 37, a bill that would have allowed all K-12 schools to resume full in-person learning before it was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
The Senate passed a motion passed Wednesday that would allow the chamber to make a second attempt at overriding Cooper’s veto of SB 37. Senate Republicans fell short Monday of securing the three-fifths vote needed to override the veto.
Cooper said he vetoed SB 37 because it puts middle-school and high-school students back in the classrooms without social distancing, going against public health guidance, and it blocks officials from changing guidelines in case of an emergency. Republicans argue school closures cause more harm to children, contributing to academic loss and a spike in teen suicides.
HB 90, a local bill, however, is veto-proof because education policy can be addressed in local bills approved by the General Assembly under the state constitution, House Republicans said. The House Education K-12 Committee is scheduled to hear the legislation Tuesday afternoon.
“Reopening classrooms in North Carolina for struggling students is the top priority we hear from constituents every single day in the General Assembly,” House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said in a statement. “We will continue to advance legislation on their behalf that lets children return to in-person learning full time as soon as possible.”
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