The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released official correspondence today detailing COVID-19 case reporting in schools.

As we reported here on Teach the Vote last week, TEA is coordinating with the Department of Health State Services (DSHS) to collect and disseminate weekly case information on test-confirmed COVID-19 infections in students, teachers, and staff who participate in on-campus activities. School districts will be expected to report data on confirmed cases beginning with the first day of instruction and will begin their weekly submissions September 8. DSHS will report weekly positive case numbers at the district level starting at the end of September.

Districts will be required to provide information such as what campus reported the infection and whether it was a student, teacher, or staff member. Districts must also report what action was taken in response to the infection. In addition to COVID cases, TEA is asking districts to report enrollment data for the first and fourth weeks of school. This data is meant to give TEA an idea how many students are on campus in order to provide context to the case reporting.

TEA also updated several other resources on their COVID-19 webpage this week, including minor changes to COVID-19 public health orders. the term "lab-confirmed" was revised to "test-confirmed" to acknowledge the increased use of on-sight rapid testing, which does not always require a test to be sent off to a lab in order to get a result. The agency also updated resources for special education and special populations, including resources for highly mobile and at-risk students, English learners, and G/T students. Texas Home Learning resources were also updated.

Also of note, the deadline for school districts to apply for Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) is quickly approaching (September 30). The CRF, established through the CARES Act and administered by the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM), provides up to 75% reimbursement for allowable expenses from March 1 through March 20, 2020. TDEM has advised that in order to complete the application process by September 30, districts will likely need to have completed the first step of registering an account by September 7.

As always, the ATPE Coronavirus FAQ and Resources are frequently updated and available for public use. Recent updates include an interactive timeline of COVID-19 developments and webcasts with ATPE's legal services team.