Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ‘We Have Plenty Of PPE For Schools’

Whether you are excited about school starting because your beasties will head to class at some point and burn off some of that hanging around the house for six months energy or you're dreading the start of school because you can't imagine being comfortable with sending your kiddos to a classroom, there is some encouraging news from the Texas governor's office this week.

Governor Greg Abbott gave an update about the state’s distribution of Personal Protective Equipment to Texas school districts for the 2020-2021 school year saying the state will continue to buy and distribute PPE to schools at no cost to local school districts. Glad to hear it, governor, I mean you're buying that with our tax money, but I digress.

As for when schools open classrooms for in-person learning, Abbott said he will leave that up to local school boards to determine how and when to allow kids back in the classroom. I think that's the best course of action because local school boards can gauge the participation level more accurately from their own districts rather than waiting for the Texas Education Agency to figure that out. It also lets the TEA and the governor off the hook for any decisions made by local school districts so if something goes wrong they can say, "Well, we did make the decision to open classrooms, the school board did." It's a very handy out for Abbott. But I digress.

Abbott said Texas has a "strong supply of PPE" that will be available to keep students, teachers, and staff safe. I certainly hope so because I wrote this article to let parents and school staff know that there is PPE available. I also wrote it so we have a date and an article to go to if Abbott should say that the state doesn't have PPE or isn't in the business of providing it.

My sincere thoughts and prayers to all parents, students, and school district employees for this upcoming year. I hope you all are safe and this school year goes well.