SCHOOL REOPENING DURING COVID-19: SUPPORTING STUDENTS, EDUCATORS, AND FAMILIES - Hearing of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, United States Senate - September 30, 2021

Oct 15, 2026

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Hearing record of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions addressing school reopening during COVID-19. The opening statement emphasizes the pandemic’s impacts on students, families, and educators, including disruptions to learning, barriers for students with disabilities, and inequities in access to meals and reliable internet. It highlights relief funding used for safety measures, ventilation, masks and testing, technology access, tutoring and summer learning, and expanded mental health resources, while noting that the Delta variant shows the crisis is ongoing.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages55

Reading Time2 h 19 min

AccessFree to download

Statements

Committee Members

Witnesses

S. HRG. 117–200 SCHOOL REOPENING DURING COVID–19: SUPPORTING STUDENTS, EDUCATORS, AND FAMILIES HEARING OF THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON EXAMINING SCHOOL REOPENING DURING COVID-19, FOCUSING ON SUPPORTING STUDENTS, EDUCATORS, AND FAMILIES SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions ( Available via the World Wide Web: [http://www.govinfo.gov](http://www.govinfo.gov) U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 46–780 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023 COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chair BERNIE SANDERS (I), Vermont ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut TIM KAINE, Virginia MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire TINA SMITH, Minnesota JACKY ROSEN, Nevada BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado RICHARD BURR, North Carolina, Ranking Member RAND PAUL, M.D., Kentucky SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine BILL CASSIDY, M.D., Louisiana LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska MIKE BRAUN, Indiana ROGER MARSHALL, M.D., Kansas TIM SCOTT, South Carolina MITT ROMNEY, Utah TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama JERRY MORAN, Kansas EVAN T. SCHATZ, Staff Director DAVID P. CLEARY, Republican Staff Director JOHN RIGHTER, Deputy Staff Director (II) C O N T E N T S STATEMENTS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2021 Page COMMITTEE MEMBERS Murray, Hon. Patty, Chair, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Opening statement .............................................................................. 1 Burr, Hon. Richard, Ranking Member, a U.S. Senator from the State of North Carolina, Opening statement ................................................................... 3 WITNESSES Becerra, Hon. Xavier, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC .......................................................................................................................... 7 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Cardona, Hon. Miguel, Secretary of Education, Washington, DC ....................... 13 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 (III) SCHOOL REOPENING DURING COVID–19: SUPPORTING STUDENTS, EDUCATORS, AND FAMILIES Thursday, September 30, 2021 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:02 a.m., in room 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Patty Murray, Chair of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Murray [presiding], Casey, Baldwin, Murphy, Kaine, Hassan, Smith, Rosen, Lujan, Hickenlooper, Burr, Paul, Collins, Murkowski, Braun, Marshall, Romney, and Tuberville. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MURRAY The CHAIR. Good morning. We are going to get started. We have a number of votes this morning and a really good attendance at hearing, so we want to get going. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will please come to order. Today, we are holding a hearing with Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, and on how we can help schools across the country as they work to safely reopen for in-person learning. Ranking Member Burr and I will each have an opening statement and then I will introduce our witnesses. And after they give their testimony, Senators will each have 5 minutes for a round of questions. While we are again unable to have this hearing fully open to the public or media for in-person attendance, live video is available on our Committee website at [help.senate.gov.](help.senate.gov. And)[ And](help.senate.gov. And) if you are in need of accommodations, including closed captioning, you can reach out to the Committee or the Office of Congressional Acc

FAQs

What was the purpose of this Senate hearing on September 30, 2021?

The hearing examined how to support schools across the country as they work to safely reopen for in-person learning.

What key challenges did the opening statement describe from the pandemic?

It described disruptions to students’ learning, difficulties for students with disabilities, lack of access to nutritious meals for some low-income families, and struggles for students without internet at home under remote learning.

How did the cited relief funding help schools during reopening?

Funding supported student safety measures such as masks, tests, and improved ventilation, connectivity through technology and internet access, learning acceleration via summer learning and tutoring, and increased mental health resources.

Oct 15, 2026

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