Americans are divided by race and party on the question of whether schools should open sooner or later, according to new polling by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Why it matters: Although reopening schools may exacerbate community spread of the coronavirus, keeping kids at home often causes learning loss and makes life much harder for working parents.
Between the lines: Staying home is often harder on children of color for a multitude of reasons, including that they may not have the same access to virtual learning as wealthier white children.
- But parents of color are are much more likely than white parents to think that schools should reopen later, a reminder that Black and Latino communities are also disproportionately affected by the virus itself, and may have more at stake if reopening schools worsens outbreaks in their communities.
- And while 82% of parents of color say their child's school needs more resources to safely reopen, only 54% of white parents say the same.
The big picture: The Trump administration has been pushing schools to fully reopen in the fall, and Republicans are unsurprisingly much more likely to agree with the president than Democrats.
- Most independents think that schools should reopen later rather than sooner.
What we're watching: Half of parents said their child's school hadn't yet announced whether they'd be having in-person classes in the fall.
