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Disproportionate Number Of Black, Hispanic Students Learning Remotely; Biden Heads To Louisiana To Sell American Jobs Plan; Senior Dems Wary Of Appearing To Push Justice Breyer Off Bench. Aired 12:30- 1p ET

Aired May 06, 2021 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Getting children back to school in this age of COVID important to the President of the United States, important to most parents everywhere. And let's just take a look at some of the numbers beginning with the global perspective.

If you look at the map here you see the color code over there in person is the darker blue, hybrid is the lighter blue, remote is the key teal mixed is what you see is the United States, a mix of back to school, a mix of hybrid and the like. You see some schools districts around the world still on extended break. Some places we don't have the data if you look around the world, that's the global perspective. And you see it's just different depending on where you live around the world.

Let's come back to where we are here in the United States. This is public schools open full time for all students. If you go back to January, it was 47 percent of fourth grade, 46 percent for eighth grade. You see the progression in March -- in February I mean. In here we are at the data at the end of March, 56 percent of fourth graders are back in school full time, 51 percent of eighth graders, right? That's the data overall.

If you add in hybrid, some schools are back but not quite full, time three days or four days for various reasons including space in the classroom and the like. The numbers do go up, 77 percent fourth grade, 75 percent eighth grade back in January 88, 89 percent.

Now when you come forward at schools have gone through this experiment of bringing kids back to school this is hybrid so maybe one or two days still remote. If you look by region, this is -- these numbers tell you the people -- the students were still learning remotely, much higher numbers out in the West, 65 percent of eighth graders out in the western region still learning remotely, 59 percent of fourth graders, you see the different numbers the South and the Midwest, less reliant on remote learning.

[12:35:16]

Now, as we go through these continuous cycles here. Here's where you see the racial disparities and the gaps were there back in January. But look here public fourth graders back in school full time, 58 percent white students, white fourth graders are back, only 36 percent of black fourth graders and 35 percent of Hispanic fourth graders. And the numbers are a little different but the gap about the same when you look at the eighth grade, 45 percent of white students back, 26 percent of black eighth graders back, 25 percent of Hispanic or Latino, eighth graders back into school.

Let's bring into the conversation someone quite familiar with the survey findings here, Annette Anderson, she's Deputy Director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Safe and Healthy Schools, cofounder of their e-school plus initiative. Annette, thank you for your time today, let me just asks this, I know there's -- I don't want to oversimplify it but there's always this racial equity issue in education. But why in back to school? Why do we see this giant gap in the back to school numbers were by 20 points here, white eighth graders are more likely to be back in the classroom than black or Hispanic eighth graders.

ANNETTE ANDERSON, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR SAFE AND HEALTHY SCHOOLS: Well, first of all, John, thank you for having me back. I will just say that we know that there has been this ongoing disparity in terms of how we get kids to go back to school, just because there have been different reasons for why parents have chosen to remain remote.

So as more white families have demanded that schools reopen, families of color have continued to sit this out, they have continued to say that they are going to adopt a wait and see approach to reopening our schools this fall. So that's what you're seeing clearly in the data. And so as we think about reopening schools for fall, we really have to start thinking about the fact that many parents want schools to offer a hybrid or a remote option to continue in the fall. So that's something that we're going to continue to see, even as the summer progresses, and we start thinking about going back this fall.

KING: You're right about that, in the report or in a tweet, in a tweet about the report. Some families want choices like this to continue for the fall, African American, Latino, Asian American students, are least likely to be in person right now. Is it for economic reasons? Is it for safety concerns? Is it because these parents are juggling their own, you know, economic circumstances, their jobs and their childcare issues as well. And they've decided this works for now. And, you know, it's just too hectic to change it? Or is it all of the above?

ANDERSON: I think it's a bit of all of the above, John. To be honest, you know, I said a while ago, I think on my last visit here that we have had a health pandemic globally, as well as a racial pandemic on top of for many families, and economic pandemic. So what you're seeing is that parents are voting with their feet.

And so for families of color, they don't necessarily define a safe school in the same way that the traditional family does. And so they're looking at different indices to see whether or not school is safe enough for their children to return in person. And many families of color have determined that schools are not safe. I don't think that it is ironic that you're seeing large numbers of Asian American families, for example, who continue to sit out of in person learning, almost 85 percent of Asian families, not to go back to in person learning yet.

And so what we have to do in the education sector is to listen to those families, and think about how we can accommodate their needs so that we can make our schools safer. For some of them, this is about the social emotional pieces that they feel that the school house did not address before. And the pandemic has just really helped them to see that being able to learn remotely, has just made a lot of that much more clear for them, and that they want to have more of a parent choice in the options for fall.

KING: And how much do we know at this point? And how long will it take to get a fuller picture of the catch up work that's going to have to be done and what our children are losing or losing, there may be some benefits to being at home by learning technology, learning independence. But in terms of the bricks and mortar, the things we normally think about reading, writing, and arithmetic, when will we know what the challenge is going to be in the next five years of helping kids catch up?

ANDERSON: think you're absolutely right, John. I think that we have the long term view in mind here when we start looking at what is happening with the public education landscape. Make no mistake. We have disrupted what we knew in March 2020 to be public schooling. And so what you're seeing is districts are trying to figure out how they can offer these options for virtual schooling. Many districts around the country are standing up virtual academies or high schools or even offering virtual districts.

You're seeing some states that are offering cyber schools online entirely for parents that want that option. I think that we've got to think that this is really reopened the conversation about what parent choice is. Every family in the summer of 2020 was forced to think about what reopening would look like for their household. And so for some families that's why they haven't come back because they don't want to disrupt the plans that they made for this year.

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So you'll see more kids turned back into schools in the fall. But make no mistake, we've got to think about the long term. When you say that we have so much learning loss to think about, yes, we are thinking that probably 3 million students have missed out on some degree of their education over this last year. So there's a huge, huge disparity for equity that we've got to look into as we think about reopening this fall.

KING: Right. And I -- as we go through this, I hope you stay in touch with us and kick us if you will, to talk about the important issues. I want to ask you one other set more of a safety question to health, health center. This is the Kaiser Family Foundation poll, once the COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and available for your child, do you think you will get it and this is among parents aged 12 to 15, so right in the middle of the school age population. And you see it right there, 30 percent say get their kids vaccinated right away, 26 percent wait and see how it goes, 18 percent only if the school requires it, 23 percent of parents definitely not vaccinate. How big of a piece of the will my kids go back to school is that part, do I think it's safe to get them vaccinated?

ANDERSON: I think that it's a big piece. What you saw in the spring was that there was a lot of demand this last spring for teachers to be vaccinated. And we have seen that in our work at e-school plus at Hopkins that many teachers have now been vaccinated, although it has not been mandatory for some. And so now as we're looking at Pfizer opening up the vaccination availability to 16 year olds, so we're starting to see that trend start to go up. But for 12 to 15 year olds, I think that many parents have adopted so far a wait and see approach. And we're going to continue to see that over the summer.

The big question right now is whether or not schools should ethically require students in that age group to be vaccinated. So I think, you know, that is part of this longer term trajectory about returning to school this fall, lots of new issues for those of us in education reform to think about.

KING: Right, a lot of conversations, a lot of questions, and of course, a lot of debates as we go through the spring and into the summer. We'll continue the conversation. Annette Anderson, grateful again for your time and we'll keep in touch as we walk forward through this important challenge.

Up next for us, back to politics and the Florida governor's grand bill signing ceremony that shut out everyone except "Fox News."

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[12:46:59]

KING: Topping our Political Radar today Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing a restrictive voting bill into law this morning. And he did it as a "Fox News" event signing it live on air.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): It's a Mexican to sign it right here. It's going to take effect. So there we go. Bill is signed. And me signing this bill here says Florida your vote counts. Your vote is going to be cast with integrity and transparency. And this is a great place for democracy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Real quick question Governor.

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KING: I beg to differ. Local news media tells CNN they were kept out of that event when they asked the Governor why he signed it in secret. He told them it was on national T.V. It wasn't secret. And he said he was happy quote to give them an exclusive, you know, like they do in Russia and China.

President Biden is selling his agenda in a red state today. The President is off to Louisiana to speak near a decades old bridge and to take a tour of a water plant. Aide say the President will frame the infrastructure debate this way. Asking voters whether fixing things vital to their communities is more important and keeping in place the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.

In that fight over the economy and jobs and taxes, the President is directly rebutting his Republican critics. But on other fronts, though, team Biden all but ignores the incoming, making a bet that most voters share his priorities. The constant GOP and conservative media attacks on immigration are a case in point. Listen here. This is the White House press secretary.

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JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're often asked, why doesn't he go to the border? Important issue. We're focused on it. What percentage of the public is focused on the border? A much smaller percentage that who's focused on the pandemic and the economy. So that may be maddening, but, you know, that's what we try to do.

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KING: CNN's Kaitlan Collins joins us now live from New Orleans. Kaitlan, Jen Psaki there essentially giving the back of the hand to Republicans and Conservative media who criticize, you know, why hasn't Vice President Harris gone to the border? Why won't the President do more on the border? But it's not just the Republicans. I just want to show you some headlines of late, "POLITICO" Senate Democrats agonize over voting rights strategy, "Newsweek" Democratic senator says Harris should visit the border, Schumer readies Plan B to push immigration changes unilaterally. And yet, Kaitlan, the White House team seems to think if we focus on the pandemic, and on the economy, we can block out most other things.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And that's exactly what Jen Psaki had said during that interview talking about how, yes, there are a few people who care about the border. But she was saying it's a much larger subset of people who care about the pandemic and getting out of this and talking about the economic recovery. And so they said, that's what President Biden is going to focus on though this is now much bigger than just the pandemic and a lot of that has to do with what he is coming here to talk about today where he says he doesn't want to just restore things to normal here, John. He actually wants to change things as the way they were beforehand.

And so what he's going to be here in Louisiana talking about is aging infrastructure and aging bridge here in Lake Charles and then coming down to New Orleans to talk about a water plant that has pipes that are nearly 100 years old, talking about those kinds of things and talking about how his massive trillions in spending that he's proposed in Washington is going to affect people on a local level here in Louisiana, talking about those two things specifically.

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But also, John, this comes amid this backdrop of where President Biden is not shying away from how he plans to pay for all of this spending, which is raising those tax rates on what the wealthiest Americans and on corporations. And yesterday, we were at the White House, and he was speaking to us in the state dining room talking about this, he really leaned into the taxes aspect of this, John, becoming pretty animated at some point saying that this isn't really going to affect people who are multimillionaires in the way that it'll just have an effect maybe on their second or third vacation home, but not on the level of people that he grew up with.

He was talking about making a difference for the middle class, for lower income Americans. And so that's really been his messaging here to try to combat or blunt at least some of that criticism that has been incoming from Republicans who are against what he wants to do with the corporate tax rate the way he wants to raise it.

And so, of course, we should expect him to continue to lean into that argument when he's here on the ground in Louisiana today, trying to make the argument to voters here, maybe Republican voters here, even if Republican lawmakers in Washington don't like the argument.

KING: Well, that's what's interesting about the President's travels in the sense that he's trying to keep America with him at a time, Washington is being Washington. Yesterday, the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, he was asked a question about Trump, but he's trying to change the subject. But Mitch McConnell is asked a question and he says he has one job, listen.

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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): One hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration. The President may have won the nomination, but Bernie Sanders won the argument about what the new administration should be like.

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KING: And then the President and the Vice President say, yes, it's OK, we'll deal with it. Listen.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He said that in our last administration, and I'm going to meet the Republicans next week when they come back and seriously be with him. I'm willing to compromise.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are sincere and serious about what the potential to actually get something done together.

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KING: This the President's challenge when he's in a red state, like Louisiana is to convince voters who might be skeptical, I'm trying, but if they don't come, I'm going to do what I have to do.

COLLINS: Right. And we've talked to White House officials, they essentially believe that even if they don't get Republicans in their corner on the end on things like infrastructure and just how big President Biden wants it to be compared to the counterproposal that he's gotten from people like Senator Shelley Moore Capito, they say, well, hey, at least we tried. And we've made this argument. And we put that forward.

But one thing the President did say yesterday, when he said, yes, I am willing to compromise. I'm not just inviting them here for show is, he said he's not willing to do nothing, talking about the inaction that he sees is the alternative to his plans. Of course, what's really been put forward is just a much smaller, financially based package than what he had put forward and so how they end up on this, remains to be seen.

But yes, Mitch McConnell will be at the White House with the rest of congressional leadership in less than a week from today, John.

KING: Kaitlan Collins live on the ground in New Orleans for us. I know we're exactly where you are. And you're making me hungry for beignets. So I will have one on my part.

COLLINS: Yes, right next door.

KING: Yes, I don't need it. So have one for me. Kaitlan, thank you very much.

[12:53:13]

Up next for us, a dilemma for Democrats, Liberals love Justice Stephen Breyer, yet, many would also love for him to retire.

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KING: Consider this Democratic dilemma part of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg legacy, progressive celebrate the career of Justice Stephen Breyer, but they also know the Senate could swing back to Republicans after the 2022 midterms. And so many wish the 82-year-old Breyer would step aside so a younger justice could be named now. Our CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue joins us now. Ariane, this is a tough one. Wishing your retirement is one thing, nudging a retirement could backfire.

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: Absolutely, it is really delicate, right? He's the senior member, liberal member of this Supreme Court, the six-three conservative majority Supreme Court. That Senate Majority right now is razor thin and of course Democrats remember when Republicans blocked one of Obama's nominees. So there is pressure for Breyer to step down.

And it's worth noting, Breyer understands the Senate. He worked there as a staffer. He knows what's going on there. He also served with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, his friend. He saw that she died while on the bench and her seat went to a conservative. But on the other hand, Breyer says over and over again, that he doesn't want the court to look political and stepping down might look political to him. He may not want to do that.

Plus, the court is already taken up a big Second Amendment case, it might take up an abortion case, and he may think it's worth him staying on, which isn't to say that progressive groups aren't really pushing for this. One group hired a billboard truck and went around the Capitol, around the Supreme Court with a big sign on it saying, Breyer retire. But that is not the sentiment that we're seeing on Capitol Hill.

So far, the Democrats there, they're being very careful. They don't want to nudge them. They don't want it to look political. And the White House is doing just about the same thing. But the White House Counsel's Office, of course behind the scenes is looking for nominees. That's what any White House Counsel would do in case a vacancy would arise. So now we're just waiting and watching and the term ends at the end of June.

KING: At the end of June, so that is when we normally would get word from a justice so we will have to be patient, Ariane, we will have to be -- not something that you find often in Washington, but we will have to be patient and watch this one play out. Appreciate the report insights there. It is a fascinating question for the justice and for the President.

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Thanks for joining us today in Inside Politics. I'll see you back here at this time tomorrow. Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now. Have a good afternoon.