President Trump, openly flouting the advice of his own federal health experts, threatened to cut off federal aid to schools that refuse to fully reopen this fall.
He assailed guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommend a slew of costly preventive measures necessary to bring the nation’s children back to class.
In a pair of tweets on Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump ramped up pressure on state leaders to get children back in brick and mortar buildings, a crucial step to jump-starting the economy.
Mr. Trump has no control over the vast majority of school district budgets, which are raised by local property and sales taxes. And he has little control over federal funding already appropriated by Congress. But the Education Department can withhold emergency relief funding that school districts say they desperately need to fund staff, programming and the public health measures recommended by the C.D.C.
“I disagree with@CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Mr. Trump wrote.
The threat comes as scientists grapple with rising concerns about transmission of the coronavirus in indoor spaces. Most public schools are poorly ventilated and don’t have the funding to update their filtration systems. Mounting evidence suggests that in crowded indoor settings, like schools, tiny droplets expelled when an infected person breathes, talks or sings can linger and infect others when inhaled. Children under 12 — who may do all of those things with force — are thought to have only a low risk of getting sick themselves, but they may still spread the virus to other students, or to teachers and parents.