Earlier this week, Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) urged President Joe Biden (D) to listen to scientists and the “fact that evidence shows that schools are able to open safely, again, if proper precautions are taken.” Now, Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) and his colleagues have introduced a bill that would get students back to school. An effort was made in Texas, but it was shortly voted down by House Democrats. In the sunshine state, Republican lawmakers are hoping that the Put Students First Act of 2021 doesn’t meet the same opposition.
Specifically, the legislation “would prohibit federal funding to schools that do not provide an in-person learning option by April 30, 2021.”
In an op-ed written by the Florida Senator, Rubio argued that if “a school continues to cave to the unions at the expense of their students, they should not receive funding.” Instead, “that funding should be rescinded and directed to school choice and the reopening plans of schools that are prioritizing their students’ needs.”
Follow the science.
Get kids back in school now! pic.twitter.com/7Ri8A8hGsM— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 4, 2021
“If a school refuses to offer students an in-person option by April 30th of 2020, 100 days into the new Biden administration, their federal funding should be rescinded and directed to school choice and the reopening plans of schools that are prioritizing their student's needs," said Rubio.
Last month, leading health experts announced that America’s schools could reopen with “mask-wearing and social distancing,” and they also informed that new scientific research provided “a path forward to maintain or return primarily or fully to in-person instructional delivery.” Moreover, Rochelle Walensky, Director of the CDC, commented that “vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for the safe reopening of schools” along with emphasizing “that there is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen.”
In announcing the legislation, Rubio slammed Unions, expressing that “they want to hold our students' hostage for more federal funding despite Congress already having provided tens of billions of dollars for public K-12 schools.”
When it comes to education, “there is no substitute for in-person learning, and now the science is confirming that it can be done safely.”
