California lawmakers to vote on governor's reopening school plan

The California legislature is expected to vote Thursday on Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to reopen public schools.

Newsom certainly hopes it means more public school districts re-open for some type of in-person instruction.

But it's unclear whether that will happen because the governor's plan doesn't mandate that schools open up.

Instead, his proposal gives districts incentives - in the form of extra money - if they do reopen.

Newsom's school plan, would give $2.6 billion to school districts that open up schools for kindergarten through second grade by April 1.

If counties are in the red tier, students in at least one grade of middle or high school would have to also reopen to get the money.

The plan also sets aside 10 percent of vaccine supply for educators.

The president of the California Teachers Association praised the agreement and called it the "multi-layered safety approach they've been looking for"

But the parent advocacy group, Open Schools California, called the governor's plan a failure because it doesn't require minimum hours of instruction. Districts could reopen for as little as one hour of classroom instruction a week - and still count as reopened and qualify for the money.

As late as Wednesday evening, state lawmakers were still making changes and amendments to the bill.