Senate Health Committee Chair Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) announced on April 14 that he had pulled a bill that would have mandated vaccines for all children to attend school or child care while granting no personal belief exemption. Pan said the focus right now needs to be on making sure families can access the vaccine for their children.

A few hours later, the California Department of Public Health announced it would not begin the process of adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of mandated childhood vaccines because it has not been approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. CDPH had intended to require it for the upcoming 2022–23 school year, but now that won’t happen until at least July 1, 2023. The department said in a statement that once the COVID vaccines for children receive full approval, it would consider the recommendations of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine advisory committee, the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Family Physicians before issuing a school vaccine requirement.

CDPH on April 6 announced updates to the “COVID-19 Public Health Guidance for K-12 Schools in California” in its recommendations for students exposed to COVID-19. Schools may now consider permitting exposed students who are asymptomatic, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status or location of exposure, to continue to take part in all aspects of K-12 schooling, including sports and extracurricular activities, unless they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19.

Exposed students, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, should get tested for COVID-19 with at least one diagnostic test (e.g., an FDA-authorized antigen diagnostic test, PCR diagnostic test or pooled PCR test) obtained within three to five days after last exposure, unless they had COVID-19 within the last 90 days. It is also strongly recommended that exposed students wear a well-fitting mask indoors around others for at least 10 days following the date of last exposure.

Exposed students who have had COVID-19 within the last 90 days do not need to be tested after exposure but should monitor for symptoms. If symptoms develop, they should isolate and get tested with an antigen test. Districts should follow the Group Tracing Guidance for notification recommendations for exposures that occur in a school setting, according to public health officials.

The updates were announced a couple of weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said that, in partnership with county offices of education, the state had distributed upwards of 14.3 million at-home COVID-19 tests to schools for use by students and staff as they return from spring break, and that additional personal protective equipment, including KN95, N95 and surgical masks were available to schools.

“California is focused on keeping schools open and students safe, and we’re not letting our guard down,” Gov. Newsom said.

The U.S. Department of Education on April 7 announced that the Supporting Effective Educator Development grant program is accepting applications, which are due on June 3. The program supports efforts to invest in a pipeline of effective educators and will award $65 million toward the implementation of evidence-based practices that prepare, develop or enhance the skills of educators.

“We know that in order to improve education across the country and meet our students where they are, we must invest in teacher professional learning, recruitment and retention,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement calling on state and education leaders to use American Rescue Plan funds to build teacher pipeline programs. “This grant competition will support institutions of higher education, national nonprofits and other eligible partners that provide teachers and school leaders with effective strategies for building inclusive, unbiased and safe learning environments that support the academic, social and emotional needs of every student.”

• The White House published a toolkit in April, Federal Resources for Addressing School Infrastructure Needs (bit.ly/3xrIv39), to support healthier learning environments, improve air quality and lower schools’ energy bills. The toolkit outlines funding and other resources available to help state and local educational agencies as well as the schools the serve.
• To support the continued recruitment of new school bus drivers during the pandemic, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration granted a 90-day extension of its temporary waiver of the “under-the-hood” skills test that is part of a new commercial driver’s license application. This waiver was effective as of April 1 and expires on June 30, 2022.