NW Houston News

State Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) hopes southern Montgomery County's unincorporated communities will make lemonade from lemons – with help from federal stimulus funds – in the statewide push to reopen schools on time this fall.

"I'd like to see our community turn this challenge in to a blessing for the people of Tamina," Toth told NW Houston News in an email Interview. "What good are laptops if there's no internet WiFi system? It's not enough to have a community center where kids can download lessons and then upload completed lessons."

Getting that internet connectivity to Tamina, located in the Conroe Independent School District, "is critical for study and research," Toth said.

"We need to help Tamina so that as a community, their kids have the same opportunity to learn as all kids in Montgomery County," he said.

That help should be on its way to Tamina and other communities across the state. Education Daily Wire reported in May that more than $1.2 billion in federal stimulus funds would start flowing into Texas school districts this summer.

Conroe ISD's share of those funds is more than $6.3 million, according to an alphabetical list of school districts posted by the Texas Education Agency last spring.

"In addition to the $200 million for the CARES Act that provides laptops, hot spots and networks, Texas will allocate an additional $400 million to schools through the Coronavirus Relief Fund for COVID-19 related expenses as mentioned above," Toth said.

About $100 million in federal CARES Act funding will pay for mainframe support for a virtual network for online learning and an addition $50 million from the act will "go directly for PPE (masks, gloves, sanitizer etc.)," Toth said.

Texas schools are preparing to reopen in the fall, with education officials preparing to offer options for online-only study. Texas education officials also are backing down from requirements that public schools reopen classroom to in-person instruction three weeks from beginning of the fall semester.

"Our objective is to get as many kids as possible on campus as long as it is safe," Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a call with school superintendents on July 17. "But we know on-campus instruction is really the best instructional setting for the vast majority of our students in Texas. Please don't feel compelled to use this transition period unless your local conditions deem it necessary."

Getting ready in time for the fall semester to start on time already is underway, Toth said during his NW Houston News interview.

"Public schools across Texas have been working with the Texas Education Agency for months at developing systems for a safe learning environment for both teachers and students," He said. "Conroe ISD, as an example, is spending millions of dollars for additional cleaning staff and facilities that accommodate social-distancing protocols."