NEA president insists schools need more money to adapt to learning in coronavirus era: 'A lot could go wrong'

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What will it take to get kids back in school amid coronavirus pandemic?

National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen Garcia on how the U.S. can safely reopen schools.

National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia told “Bill Hemmer Reports” Tuesday that schools will require additional funding in order to reopen their doors this fall.

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“What we want is not impossible,” Garcia told Bill Hemmer. “We want our kids back in a safe school. That's the part we are kind of confused over … if it's the president or governor, just saying, 'Open the doors, put the kids back in the way they left, what could go wrong?'

"A lot could go wrong,” Garcia asserted.

Trump administration officials expressed their commitment Tuesday to working “hand in hand” with local governments and jurisdictions to safely reopen schools in the fall after many districts ended the 2019-2020 academic year early due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Also Tuesday, the president and first lady hosted a “dialogue” session at the White House, focused on safely returning children to classrooms in September.

"Here's what we need," Garica said. "What complicates everything that wasn't part of the discussion ... [is] the funding we have for our public schools. Sales tax, income tax, property tax, has fallen off a cliff."

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Garcia said recent state and local budget cuts make it difficult for schools to properly implement safety precautions, such as extra sanitizing procedures and the installation of plexiglass in classrooms.

She also called on the federal government to grant schools the "same kind of consideration" as small businesses, many of whom have been saved by the small business relief program passed by Congress in March.

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"There's less money right now, fewer dollars," she said. "They are talking about massive layoffs. How are we going to do this if the federal government doesn't do what they did for Shake Shack? If the federal government would just see us the same way they saw businesses..."

"It all costs money at a time when they are slashing budgets," Garcia concluded. "The little bit we had is even less now. It's going to take some help. Help your public schools. Help us."