A CHANCE TO BREAK THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL MONOPOLY.

That sounds like a libertarian talking point, although Sasha Abramsky notes that the continued west coast states'  mitigations are an intersectional burden.

The result of this extraordinary shutdown is that low-income, special-needs, and ESL kids in the three coastal states—which pride themselves on their progressive politics—have been left behind. In refusing to go back to classrooms in these urban hubs, teachers’ unions increasingly risk a public backlash. And for the coastal governors, this is a political nightmare. For, in failing to knock heads together to get the teachers’ unions and school district administrations to come to agreements, and in not securing the funds to properly ventilate classrooms—or move them outdoors, in a region with weather hospitable to months of outdoor learning—and reduce class sizes, the three West Coast governors are, by default, abetting this tragedy.

That's not the only place where he suggests the self-styled progressives have gone wrong -- the essay will reward careful study -- today, dear reader, we focus on the popular discontent with the way the government schools are not reopening, and how emergent that discontent is.  Time contributor Paymon Rouhanifard, himself a former educrat, also sounds the warning to the left.

The failure to resume the normal rhythm of schooling in historically progressive states amounts to the most significant failure of public policy in a generation.

What began as needed and understandable caution with the onset of COVID-19 has long since veered into the irresponsible. Democratic governors, leaders of the largest teachers’ unions and many local Democratic elected officials — a cadre that regales in the blood sport of attacking Trumpism for being anti-science — have consistently disregarded the overwhelming scientific evidence that opening full-time is doable and safe for most schools. For many left-leaning and moderate voters, such as myself — particularly those with school-age children — this has proven to be an unforgivable mistake considering the downside risks associated with closures.

It might be a mistake that is driving voters out of those states.

In Brookline and Somerville in Massachusetts, for example, it’s been well-chronicled how the goal posts have continuously moved, vividly illustrating that the forces opposing school reopening are ideological, lacking a solutions-oriented agenda. Plan A turns into Plan B; rinse and repeat. Parents, many of whom identify as liberals, are left befuddled and angry. Some, like those in New Jersey, have taken their frustrations to court.

How ideological? Let Reason's Matt Welch summarize: "Deep red states open schools. Deep blue states keep schools closed."  He takes no pleasure in that sort of partisan split.  His colleague Robby Soave asks a tougher question, "Why not give parents the money to send kids to a private school that is actually open?"  In Kansas, that has gone as far as a proposal, still not law, for educational savings accounts (presumably enjoying the same tax status as medical savings accounts.)  "Legislators in Kansas and elsewhere should make it easier for students and their families to access the money being spent on their behalfs and enroll in education options that make sense for them."

Home-schooling parents have engaged in all sorts of creativity to set up neighborhood schooling collectives, or latter-day one-room schoolhouses: will the next step be the neighbors taking up a collection to hire a professional school-master?  Private schools have done a lot of work staying open and assuring parents a modicum of choice, subject to the ukases that might apply to all schools and churches in the most locked-down states.  California resident Jason Barry has done a little of both, and he's struggling with his egalitarian sensibilities.

Barry, who used to work in law enforcement and grew up in a blue-collar East Coast neighborhood, said his family has always prided itself in utilizing public schools. There was never a doubt his kids would attend public school, he said. In fact, one of the reasons he and his family moved to their  neighborhood was the good schools.

Barry said when his daughters’ schools shuttered last spring, he saw the mental and emotional impact it took on his kids, now in the fifth and seventh grades. They lingered in bed. His oldest daughter regressed socially, struggling to reconnect with friends over the summer.

“And these are kids that she’s known since first grade, second grade,” he said. “She doesn’t know how to talk to her friends. Now I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’”

Over the summer, while Santa Fe Christian was creating its reopening plan, Barry learned that San Dieguito Union High School District leaders intended to continue with remote learning. He worried that without an in-person school his oldest daughter wouldn’t develop like she should, growing from an elementary-school kid to a middle schooler.

So Barry decided that if his daughter couldn’t go to school, he’d bring the school to her.

He converted his home into co-working space for his daughters and some of their friends, setting up folding chairs around a large dining room table he covered with a fitted tablecloth to protect from spills. He talked to parents he knew, and invited about a half dozen of his daughter’s friends to do their schoolwork at his home. He even invited a half-dozen or so boys to recreate that sometimes awkward school-like social dynamic.

“I found out very quickly, taking yourself back to the middle-school dance, the boys and the girls are at opposite ends of the house at all times,” Barry said. “They’re very aware of each other.”

The kids come over mid-morning, work independently, and stay until mid-afternoon. Barry turns on fans and opens the windows to keep air circulating. The kids can spread out and work outside if they want. He even hosts twice-weekly physical education classes, playing dodgeball games in the park or basketball in the driveway.

At its peak, Barry had 15 or 16 kids at his house most days, he said, including his fifth grader and some of her friends who were in school part-time.

“I’m certain we’ve saved these kids from a depression,” Barry said. “I don’t want to say that they’re good. They’re not good. But we saved them from deteriorating.”

Before this year Barry never considered sending his kids to a private school, though his family could afford it, he said. He said he’d rather save that money to help his daughters pay for college. But conditions might force his hand.

“It’s coming to a point where it’s on the table,” Barry said. “If things don’t change, that’s going to have to be a consideration.”

Another Reason contributor, J. D. Tuccille, generalizes.

Homeschooling was supposed to be a temporary pandemic-era expedient and many students will, undoubtedly, return to traditional classrooms once COVID-19 is a memory. But growing familiarity with do-it-yourself education, the continuing slow-motion disaster engulfing government-run schools, and long-term changes in the way we live and work are likely to permanently transform learning. Homeschooling in all its myriad forms is here to stay.

Part of the issue is that public school bureaucrats and teachers unions seem dedicated to testing families' patience.

Part of that part is the assault on gifted programs and the introduction of trendy critical studies stuff, although I'll grouse more about those dimensions another day.  Focus for now, dear reader, on how the educrats, technocrats, and bureaucrats are testing families' patience.  For instance, decide whether the representatives of the teachers' unions are work-shy, or simply privileged.  (Those people who have been preparing food and delivering it for the benefit of teachers who can order in have been running far greater risk than classroom teachers have.)

There's a pragmatic libertarian populist case for aspirants to elective office in the face of the corona tyranny and the continuing school closures.  That the Biden^* administration has made a hash of the border, of energy policy, of the Middle East also offer opportunities.  I submit, though, that there's a more general case for someone to make use of.  Mr Rouhanifard, the left-leaning, or moderate, offers it.

A further significant roadblock to reopen schools can be tied to the public losing sight of the CDC and NIH’s role in the overall ecosystem of policy-making: federal agencies with a critical but narrow set of priorities that must be weighed against many others. Instead, we’ve assumed they speak the gospel.

No solutions, only trade-offs. Regular readers know that. Aspirants to public office ought to respect that.

In a sane and thriving society, sober leadership and informed citizens would use values-based judgment to weigh the recommendations of the CDC against the devastating social, emotional, academic and economic costs of closure. Public policy is about trade-offs, and federal, state and local political leaders have a responsibility to determine an optimal balance of complicated benefits and drawbacks in our decision-making. Instead, it’s become a manifestation of negative partisanship driven by a desire to deny a political win to our opponents. Both sides bask in their righteousness, holding steadfastly to an absolute position, whatever the downstream effect.

Charles Lipson concurs, with advice for the public.

Mayors, governors, and school boards across the country understand that crucial point as they decide whether to open schools this fall for in-person instruction. The voters understand it, too. They should listen to the experts, see what other jurisdictions decide, and check out their varied results. Then, they should walk into the voting booth and hold their representatives to account.

In the final analysis, "it is useful for voters to understand the limitations of experts and their expertise."