No date set for next vote on school reopening bill

Now it's a waiting game for the next step: A second attempt to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the bill.

Clark, D-Hoke, was the measure's lone Democratic sponsor and one of three Democrats who voted for the bill as it first wound its way through the legislature. He was absent when the veto override came up Monday evening, later telling The Associated Press he had to work.

Republican leaders called him out for the absence by moving for "reconsideration," a parliamentary move that amounts to a re-do.

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When that re-do may come remains to be seen. Nothing was announced Wednesday. Senate rules require 24 hours' notice on an override vote, and the legislature isn't slated to meet Friday, so next week is the likeliest window.

Senate Bill 37 is part of the partisan back and forth over pandemic school restrictions. Cooper, a Democrat, has publicly pressed systems to return to the classroom over the last month but left final decisions up to local boards of education. Republicans in the legislature want to force the issue.

Just how much their bill would change the situation on the ground at this point is difficult to say. Most systems across the state offer in-person learning now, and others are moving that way in the coming weeks. The bill gives systems 15 days to implement changes.

Cooper's Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday afternoon, shortly before the reconsideration vote, that it had updated its guidance for schools, completely removing "Plan C," which has been an all-online option for systems that don't want to offer any in-person learning.

Remote options still should be available, but only for students with health risks and families that choose it, the department said. Otherwise, classes should be held, with masking, distancing and other measures in place, DHHS said.

"The department’s updated guidance instructs schools to offer in-person learning to the fullest extent possible while following all public health protocols," DHHS officials said in a news release.

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Those protocols include a requirement for 6 feet of distancing for middle and high school students, but not for elementary school students, who are thought to be less likely to transmit the virus that causes COVID-19.

Distancing has been one of the main sticking points in the debate over Senate Bill 37. The bill specifically says schools must follow DHHS guidelines as they existed on Feb. 2, which generally requires staggered online and in-person classes to spread students out in middle and high schools.

But the bill also says local boards of education can choose from "Plan A" learning, which has minimal distancing requirements, or "Plan B," which requires 6 feet of separation.

The governor has also complained that the bill wouldn't allow him or other officials to shut schools down again if the state's COVID-19 trends take a turn for the worse. He has said he'd sign a bill if lawmakers change those two things, but Republican legislative leaders have indicated that negotiations on the bill are finished.