Tag Archives: COVID-19 shutdown

Schoesler says Asotin, other counties need to move into Phase 2 of recovery plan

On the heels of Tuesday’s announcement that all of Idaho is moving to Phase 3 of its COVID-19 recovery plan, 9th Legislative District Sen. Mark Schoesler says it is time for neighboring Asotin County and other counties to move into Phase 2 of Washington’s recovery plan.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s Healthy Washington plan, unveiled last month, divided the state into eight regions. Asotin County is in the East region with Adams, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman counties.

“I agree with the Asotin County commissioners that it’s ridiculous to include their county in the same region as Spokane County,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “If Asotin County was moved out of the East region under the governor’s latest recovery plan, the county could move into Phase 2, which would be so much better for its people economically.”

Schoesler says Inslee and his state Department of Health officials should view Clarkston and Asotin County more in connection with Lewiston and Nez Perce County instead of distant Spokane County.

“Clarkston and Lewiston are separated only by the Snake River, so you’d think Asotin County would be in the same COVID-19 recovery phase as Lewiston. Unfortunately, our governor doesn’t see it that way,” said Schoesler, who added that Whitman County, which also borders Idaho, is in a similar economic disadvantage by being frozen in Phase 1 while Idaho moves forward with its Phase 3.

Schoesler agrees with Asotin County Public Health Administrator Brady Woodbury’s assertion that most of the smaller counties in the Eastern region are on the verge of meeting the standards that would allow them to move to Phase 2.

“The current plan being used by Governor Inslee and the state Department of Health is unfair to the rural counties in eastern Washington,” said Schoesler. “Asotin County’s fate for reopening and seeing some of the COVID-19 restrictions lifted should not be tied to a very populated Spokane County that is almost 100 miles away. Lumping Asotin County together with Spokane County is just a terrible and inflexible decision by the governor and his public health minions.”

Under Inslee’s plan, a region originally had to meet four public-health metrics in order to relax some restrictions. No region, however, has met those four benchmarks. Under new requirements, regions must meet only three of the four metrics to move to the second, less-restrictive phase.

As a result of that change, the three counties – King, Pierce and Snohomish – in the Puget Sound region this week advanced to Phase 2. The four counties in the West region, which includes Grays Harbor, Lewis, Pacific and Thurston, also moved to Phase 2. It means, for example, that restaurants and fitness centers can allow people indoors at 25% capacity, and social/home gatherings of up to five people from up to two households are allowed.

Last week the state Senate’s majority Democrats blocked two requests from Republicans for a vote on Senate Bill 5114, a bipartisan measure Schoesler is co-sponsoring that would move all of Washington into Phase 2.

Schoesler and 9th Legislative District Reps. Joe Schmick and Mary Dye received an email Tuesday from Asotin County Commissioner Chuck Whitman, who called it “unacceptable” that his county is being put at an economic disadvantage as Idaho advances to Phase 3 of its plan.

Whitman asked the legislators to help move Asotin County to Phase 2 or at least allow the county to be an exception to the regional approach in Inslee’s latest reopening plan.

“As a border town with Idaho, separated by a bridge, the impact on this growing divide and economic inequality may be fatal for many small businesses in Asotin County,” Whitman wrote.

 

Senate Republicans share K-12 Educational Recovery Priorities plan with Inslee, Reykdal

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing the suspension of the remainder of the 2019-20 academic year for more than 1 million Washington K-12 students, members of the Senate Republican Caucus have created a five-point plan to address the current situation facing students and teachers and how best to proceed.

The K-12 education plan, along with a cover letter from Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, were sent late yesterday to Gov. Jay Inslee and Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal.

“Two of our caucus members who serve on the Senate’s K-12 education committee, Senators Brad Hawkins and Keith Wagoner, led the effort in crafting a realistic plan that addresses immediate concerns and those that will await schools as the 2020-21 academic year approaches in a few months,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville. “We hope Governor Inslee and Superintendent Reykdal will read and carefully consider the ideas expressed in this plan that are in the best interests of Washington students.”

In the cover letter sent to Inslee and Reykdal, Schoesler wrote:

“The Senate Republican Caucus is proud of the steps our state has taken in recent years to satisfy the McCleary Decision on basic education, funding our K-12 system at record levels and providing more equity for students across our state.  As a result of bipartisan efforts, our K-12 investments now represent 51 percent of the $54 billion operating budget. This is a substantial contribution from taxpayers, including many families with students in our schools.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the ongoing disruption and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these families and students are struggling under the current restrictions and limitations placed upon them. Even in areas with excellent internet access, there are reports of extremely low participation rates by students.  With over one million public, private, and home school students in our state, we must do everything we can to meet their needs, ensure continuity in their academic progress, and provide a return on significant taxpayer investments.

“As you and your staff continue to focus on our state’s health and safety as well as the reopening of the economy, we urge you to keep in mind the health and academic needs of the staff and students associated with our basic educational system. In the spirit of helpful and open communications, please review the attached K-12 Educational Recovery Priorities from our caucus and consider this document in your current and future planning efforts.”

The Senate Republicans’ K-12 Educational Recovery Priorities plan covers five areas:

  • School districts should focus on delivering instruction

The number one priority of every school district should be the delivery of educational content. Districts should consider partnerships with local utilities and service providers to establish internet serviceability to deliver online instruction, in addition to any paper content. All students should receive a commensurate amount of high-quality instructional time remotely as they would from in-building instruction.

  • Resume traditional instruction in classrooms as soon as reasonable

As soon as reasonable and safe to do so, public and private school boards should be allowed to decide whether their schools can resume instructional activities under the traditional, in-classroom model. The state should assist districts by developing model policies and procedures for COVID-19 testing, sterilizing, and response, placing emphasis on the highest risk populations. This approach will better ensure consistent, equitable, and robust instruction. Internet-based remote instruction could supplement in-building instruction as a viable model for future years.

  • Consider impacts on marginalized students and adjust the school calendar as needed

To better meet academic needs for this school year, students should be permitted to regain instruction lost into July. Districts could also consider beginning future school years on August 1st to assist students in regaining their overall growth and long-term academic progress. Focus should be given to under-supported students who are marginalized and have lost greater opportunities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Consider impacts to school funding and cost of local bargaining agreements

Delivering instruction is a staff-intensive business. As such, staff costs can approach 80 percent or more of a school district budget. Given the economic uncertainty associated with COVID-19 and the future funding from the state, it would seem prudent for school districts to freeze additional spending, including commitments on bargaining agreements not yet extended.

  • Support graduating seniors as they transition to their colleges or careers

Given the interrupted instruction graduating seniors have received, higher education institutions, state employment agencies, and military branches should provide additional support and guidance to these young adults transitioning to their colleges or careers. Additional support could include tuition assistance for summer coursework, waivers for standardized test deadlines, and additional academic advising or career planning.

 

9th District legislators ask governor to let Whitman County partially reopen

When Gov. Jay Inslee announced Friday that 10 Washington counties may be allowed to partially reopen amid his stay-home order due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 9th Legislative District team of Sen. Mark Schoesler, and Reps. Joe Schmick and Mary Dye immediately noticed Whitman County was not on the list.

The omission prompted the lawmakers to send a joint letter to Inslee yesterday, asking him to add Whitman to the list of counties that can seek a variance from the governor’s Proclamation 20-25, allowing them to reopen parts of their economies soon.

“We think the governor isn’t using fair criteria to judge which counties can partially reopen their economies during his shutdown, especially in regards to Whitman County. We think Whitman should be allowed to partially reopen now, and Representatives Schmick and Dye and I wanted to let the governor know it,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville.

“Whitman County has two cases that are being monitored and staying home. All other cases have recovered. It makes no sense to close the county for two. The recovery numbers are not being published and I think they should be in every county. Our families, small businesses and employees want – and need – to get back to work. I trust our citizens to be smart, deliberate and thoughtful of others as we emerge from quarantine,” said Schmick, R-Colfax.

“We have had weeks to better understand the nature of the pandemic. It is self-evident that we must protect vulnerable elderly populations in assisted living and nursing homes,” said Dye, R-Pomeroy. “Our communities in Whitman County need to be freed from the governor’s restrictions in order to save our rural hospitals and our rural economy. We are better able to respond to the virus when our communities are allowed to recover financially as well.”

The 10 counties that can partially reopen are Columbia, Ferry, Garfield (which is in the 9th District), Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kittitas, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Skamania and Wahkiakum.

The text of the 9th District legislators’ letter to the governor is below:

May 5, 2020

Governor Jay Inslee
PO Box 40002
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

Dear Governor Inslee,

We are writing to respectfully ask you to add Whitman County to the list of Washington counties that may seek a variance from your Proclamation 20-25, toward reopening parts of their economies sooner.

We are encouraged by your recognition of the fact that not all areas of the state are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic in the same way and agree with you that some counties should have an opportunity to reopen earlier. However, we are disappointed to learn of the disclosed criteria that lead to inclusion of some counties while excluding Whitman County: Counties under 75,000 in population are eligible to apply for a variance if they have not had a single positive COVID-19 case in the last three weeks. (We were told Whitman County had none over the last week, but had one the prior week, so it needs to go two more weeks without a positive test.) We think this is the wrong criteria to use and we are disappointed Whitman County is not being given that opportunity – because the data indicate it should.

For instance, Jefferson County made the list despite having had twice as many confirmed cases (28) of COVID-19 as Whitman County (14). (According to the Whitman County Health Department, there currently are two active COVID-19 cases in this county, as the others diagnosed with it have recovered.) Grays Harbor County is on the list despite having a population roughly 50 percent greater than Whitman County. Kittitas County is eligible despite having a slightly higher rate of confirmed cases per 1,000 people (0.30) than Whitman County (0.28). In fact, Whitman County has the 11th lowest rate of confirmed cases per 1,000 people of all 39 counties in our state. It is also noteworthy that Whitman County, like all of the 10 counties being allowed to seek a variance, has had no deaths caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

We also note that with Washington State University having canceled in-person classes for the rest of the current academic year, Whitman County’s largest city, Pullman, is now home to only a small fraction of the student body. Forcing many Pullman businesses to remain closed for several more weeks at a time when they prematurely find themselves with far fewer customers to protect will needlessly bring them closer to the edge of failure.

It’s worth noting that Whitman and other border counties have faced very tough stay-home restrictions over the past several weeks, while our neighbors in Idaho have endured far fewer restrictions. Unlike in Washington, you can buy a car in Idaho, which seems like a very reasonable and sensible approach considering auto dealerships typically have very few customers in the building at the same time. Outdoor activities like golf, which by its very nature employs physical distancing, have been handled far differently in Washington than in Idaho. While you can play golf in Lewiston, you haven’t been allowed to play it in Clarkston, even though the two towns are just across the river from each other. At least you are finally somewhat relaxing your shutdown on golf and other outdoor activities.

During your Friday announcement that Proclamation 20-25 would be extended, you spoke of your desire to bet on success rather than failure. We would bet that if Whitman County is granted the same opportunity as the 10 counties you designated already, its leaders, merchants and residents will deliver. It would be fair and consistent – and they, too, would rather succeed than fail.

Please reconsider your decision and allow Whitman County to also apply for a variance so it can finally, if slowly, start its reopening process.

Sincerely,

MARK SCHOESLER
State Senator
9th Legislative District

 

JOE SCHMICK
State Representative
9th Legislative District

 

MARY DYE
State Representative
9th Legislative District

 

Cc: Whitman County Commissioners
Art Swannack, District 1
Dean Kinzer, District 2
Michael Largent, District 3