December 16, 2020

Governor Greg Abbott

P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711

Dear Governor Abbott,

We are a coalition of educators, union members, parents, guardians, students, public health experts, and community
members who have been meeting since May in response to the pandemic’s effect on our public schools in San Antonio
and Bexar County since May of this year.

We call upon you, to ensure the health, safety, and economic well-being of all Texans, by taking the following actions:

Restore the power of local health authorities to make decisions about school closures, as they are best equipped to make
decisions in consideration of the preservation of the health, safety, and survival of our communities. Give local elected
officials the power to close or reduce the occupancy of businesses as necessary to slow community spread of COVID-19
when community positivity rates exceed 10%.

Cancel STAAR testing and other required standardized testing for the 2020-2021 school year and use local formative
assessments. Our students have experienced high levels of stress for nearly a year. Adding more stress by requiring
students to take these high-stakes tests simply inflicts more harm on our students in a time when we should be focused on
their physical and mental health.

Provide more social support for our students and their families including mortgage and rent cancellation and direct cash
assistance for families in economic crises.

Now is the time for bold leadership and decisive action in defense of our communities. In Bexar County alone, spread of
COVID-19 across the community is vast, and we are seeing a strain on schools, hospitals, families, and our small
businesses. We call on you to maintain, or increase, public education funding amid the pandemic, and to allow for local
government and health departments to exercise the authority needed to save lives. Stop holding school funding hostage
during an unprecedented crisis across the state due to COVID-19.

We call on you to guarantee districts their full level of funding for the rest of this school year, regardless of how they
choose to provide instruction. Until we eradicate this virus or our communities have broad access to an effective vaccine,
districts should be allowed to offer only virtual learning for the remainder of the school year, without a financial penalty.

Sincerely,
The San Antonio Coalition on School Reopening