Pence: 'Absolutely essential' that schools reopen in the fall

Vice President Mike Pence declared Wednesday that U.S. schools reopening in the fall is "absolutely essential" –reenforcing the growing push from within the administration to get children and older students back in classrooms after months of state-mandated distance learning. 

Essentially every governor in the country shut down his or her state's educational systems in March out of concerns that schools could become coronavirus hotspot.

In recent weeks, states and school districts have struggling with the decision to either resume in-person instruction in the fall or continue with virtual learning. 

A strong and growing body of evidence indicates that children are at minimal risk from contracting and spreading COVID-19 and that they are also unlikely to suffer severe cases from it. A growing body of advocates and officials has pointing to this data in recent weeks as proof that reopening school is relatively risk-free. 

President Trump tweeted on Monday that "SCHOOLS MUST REOPEN IN THE FALL." On Tuesday, he participated in a roundtable in which he said he would "put pressure on governors" to reopen their states' schools in the fall. 

On Wednesday, at a White House coronavirus task force press conference, Pence also advocated resuming in-class learning in August. He noted that numerous at-risk student groups require special education, nutritional support and other unique arrangements, and that "school is the place where they receive all those services.”

At that press conference, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also urged reopening, saying that "students can and must continue to learn full-time."

Schools "must fully open," DeVos also said, and they "must be fully operational."

Reopening schools, Pence said at one point, is a goal "shared by every parent in America."