Biden Announces Executive Actions Meant To Help Reopen Schools

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Nathan Grebil (right) takes the temperature of fourth-grade student Hyla during a health screening at Bel Aire Elementary School in Tiburon, Calif., in October.

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These moves come as the organization Burbio reports more than half of the country’s students are learning from home. Large districts, including in Chicago and Fairfax County, Va., are struggling to bring large numbers of students back for the first time this school year, while others are closing because of staffing shortages brought on by waves of quarantines. And there are worries over whether new variants of the coronavirus might spread even more quickly, overwhelming the safety precautions currently in place in schools.

In addition to the actions announced Thursday, which focused on K-12 school reopenings amid the pandemic, Biden signed several executive actions on his first day in office relating to education.

He affirmed the rights of children to access school restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, an issue that made news when DeVos rescinded similar Obama-era guidance.

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On the higher ed front, Biden took actions that would make it easier for certain students to go to college, and provide relief to student loan borrowers during the pandemic:

College Access: Biden issued a proclamation ending the so called «Muslim travel ban,» which barred entry to the U.S. of citizens from some majority-Muslim countries. The president also ordered the state department to begin processing visas. Both moves should help colleges attract more international students after a massive decline in enrollment during the Trump administration.

A new action strengthening the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, gives legal protections to people who came to the U.S. as children. Colleges have long supported the program, which has helped many Dreamers enrolled in college.

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Student Loans: Following an executive action signed Wednesday, the Education Department extended pandemic relief from payments for about 41 million federal student loan borrowers through Sept. 30. «Too many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families. They should not be forced to choose between paying their student loans and putting food on the table,» the Education Department said in a statement.