Find all of the most important pandemic education news on Educating N.J., a special resource guide created for parents, students and educators.
As schools open across New Jersey, the Trump administration is sending the state 2.4 million cloth face coverings.
At the same time, however, a Federal Emergency Management Agency policy change has federal lawmakers concerned that school districts won’t get reimbursed going forward for costs designed to address the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to send the face coverings, half of them sized for children and half for adults, beginning this month at no cost. The allocation is based on share of students coming from low-income families. Nationally, as many as 125 million masks will go to the states.
The effort is designed to help schools continue to be have in-person learning, HHS said. New Jersey’s schools have reopened in person under specific guidelines, reopened remotely, or reopened with a combination of both. The pandemic already has forced at least six districts to change plans.
The state Department of Education will decide how and where to distribute the masks.
Members of the state’s congressional delegation, meanwhile, said Monday that the new FEMA policy will end federal reimbursement to school districts and local governments for thermometers, personal protective equipment, physical barriers and efforts to disinfect classrooms and offices.
“We have fewer dollars, revenues are down,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist. “You’re putting a lot more burden on the school districts.”
Gottheimer and the rest of the state’s congressional delegation except for Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., have asked FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor to restore the funding.
“As many students and teachers across our state and our country head back to school, FEMA’s policy will likely make it harder for state and local governments,” the lawmakers wrote. “This will hamstring efforts to slow the spread of the virus and prolong this pandemic.”
FEMA, which has approved more than $35 billion to respond to the coronavirus since March, said in a statement that it was “not authorized to support the day to day operations and operational expenses of facilities.”
The agency still would continue to pay the pandemic costs incurred until Tuesday, no matter when the bills are submitted, according to Laura Connolly, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey State Police Emergency Management Section.
Connolly said it was not unusual for FEMA to end funding once the immediate emergency had passed. She said other federal programs like the $2 trillion stimulus law known as the CARES Act can be tapped to cover future costs no longer covered by FEMA.
Congress remains deadlocked on whether to provide more federal aid. House Democrats voted in May to provide $875 billion in assistance to states and localities, but President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have refused to approve any additional support.
That’s been a major stumbling block in negotiations over a new stimulus package.
“We are overwhelmingly in need of more federal support,” Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday during his regular coronavirus briefing. “There’s an overwhelming view that we’re short and we’re meaningfully short and that needs to get addressed and corrected sooner rather than later.”
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com.
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
Read More: Trump administration sending 2.4M masks to N.J. schools but Congress members