Anoka Times

After Gov. Tim Walz said public schools could reopen if local districts made plans to contain the spread of COVID-19, Rep. Cal Bahr said the governor's plan is full of uncertainty. 

“His announcement injects a great deal of uncertainty into the next school year. Parents need to be able to plan; employers need to be able to know what to expect," Bahr said in a press release from the Minnesota Legislature. "The answer Walz has given [doesn't] satisfy any of that; it just pushes that question on to the districts. He couldn’t please everybody, so he passed the buck. But he did so in a way that he still has control over what they can and can’t do. School districts remain in the worst position possible. They have little power and all the responsibility.”

Schools can only resume in-person learning if they follow strict rules, Bahr said. But this also means they need to expect to shut down if anyone doesn't follow these rules. 

Even if schools offer in-person learning, Walz is encouraging parents to "opt-out" of it.

“Districts must provide 100% distance learning even if they choose an in-person or hybrid model. If they want to offer in-person schooling at all, they must pay all the costs for distance learning anyway,” he said in the press release. 

Bahr said Walz risks a mass exodus of kids going to private schools if he announced a shutdown.

"The teachers union has stridently argued for keeping the schools closed, and parents, many teachers and school districts all over Minnesota who want children back at school," Bahr said in the press release.