1. Eighteen states have plans to open schools for the 2020-21 academic year
2. Republicans to choose nominee Saturday in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District 
3. Gov. Murphy appoints Pierre-Louis to New Jersey Supreme Court

Eighteen states have plans to open schools for the 2020-21 academic year

Forty-eight states closed schools statewide to in-person instruction in response to the coronavirus outbreak in March and April for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. Those 48 states account for 99.4% of the 50.6 million public school students in the country. 

Two states—Montana and Wyoming—did not close schools to in-person instruction for the academic year. Montana schools were allowed to reopen on May 7 and Wyoming schools were allowed to reopen on May 15.

As the months have turned from May to June, states and school districts are moving on to plans with eyes toward the 2020-2021 school year. 

• Three states—Alabama, North Dakota, and Nevada—have reopened school facilities to students and staff statewide. Alabama and North Dakota reopened on June 1 and Nevada reopened on June 9.

• Officials in seven states—Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Virginia—have announced that schools would reopen to students in the fall. Indiana was the only one of these states to offer a firm opening date of July 1.

• Seven other states have released guidance for reopening schools without stating whether or not they would be open in the fall. Officials released plans for schools in California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, and Tennessee. These plans include operational modifications such as alternating day schedules, limited or no communal dining, and mandatory face coverings.

In Missouri, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven announced that she expected schools to reopen in the fall for the academic year, but said that local authorities would be given the authority to decide how and when students return to the classroom.

Also, in other coronavirus news:

• In the June 10 edition of the Brew, we highlighted instances from several states where the state legislature challenged governors’ executive orders that were implemented in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s another instance where the legislature challenged to governor’s policy responses regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

• In Pennsylvania, the state legislature passed a resolution June 10 directing Gov. Tom Wolf (D) to end the state’s emergency declaration and lift all business shutdown orders. The resolution passed the state Senate 31-19 and the House 121-81, with 12 House Democrats supporting the measure. Wolf said he will not lift the orders or approve the resolution. Republicans control both chambers of the Pennsylvania state legislature.

• Do you want a weekly summary of government responses to the coronavirus pandemic? Then, subscribe to the Coronavirus Weekly Update. Each issue provides info on how state and local governments are implementing, modifying, or rescinding executive orders, legislation, stay-at-home orders, and school and court closures due to COVID-19. Click here to read the latest issue published yesterday—June 11.

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Republicans to choose nominee Saturday in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District 

With many elections rescheduled from April-May into June because of the coronavirus pandemic, the past two weeks have been filled with races. On June 2 and 9, we covered more than 2,000 primary, local, and special elections for 1,657 offices—including 23 battleground primaries—in 18 states and Washington, D.C. 

No states are holding statewide elections on Tuesday, June 16. I think I can speak for our elections team when I say that they are looking forward to a chance to catch their breath. The only election Ballotpedia is tracking that day is a special election for one of 15 seats on the Washington, D.C., city council. 

But if you’re an elections junkie like me, there will be another race to follow. Virginia Republicans are holding a nominating convention tomorrow—June 13—in the 5th Congressional District which is primarily in the south-central part of the state. Political parties in Virginia can select nominees by either a convention or primary. For example, Republicans in Virginia are also holding conventions to select U.S. House nominees in the 10th and 11th Districts on June 20 and in the 7th District on July 18.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday’s convention will be held in a church parking lot and elected delegates will cast ballots from their cars. Over 3,500 delegates have been selected to participate. 

Convention-goers will select either incumbent Denver Riggleman or Bob Good on Saturday. Riggleman was first elected in 2018, defeating Leslie Cockburn (D), 53% to 47%, in the general election. He was selected as the nominee, also at a district convention, in June 2018.

Riggleman, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump (R), says he has a record of supporting the president’s agenda. Riggleman also says he has worked on local issues like expansion of broadband services in the area and getting Virginia’s industrial hemp crop added to federal crop insurance programs.

Good is a former member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors and was the associate athletics director at Liberty University. During a radio debate held last month, Good said he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, reduce the federal budget deficit, and limit the federal government's involvement in education.

Riggleman has raised $1,533,000 and spent $1,340,000 through May 24, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission. Good has raised $186,000 and spent $152,000 as of the same date.

The nominee selected at the convention faces the Democratic nominee, who will be selected in Virginia’s statewide primary June 23. The Cook Political Report and Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball rate the general election Likely Republican and Inside Elections rates it Solid Republican. 

Gov. Murphy appoints Pierre-Louis to New Jersey Supreme Court

Gov. Phil Murphy (D) nominated Fabiana Pierre-Louis June 5 to a seat on the New Jersey Supreme Court. Current Justice Walter Timpone will reach the court’s mandatory retirement age of 70 this November. 

In New Jersey, the governor nominates state supreme court judges who are then confirmed by the state Senate. The partisan composition of the state Senate is 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. If confirmed, Pierre-Louis would become the first black female justice on the court. She would also be the first black justice on the supreme court since John E. Wallace, Jr. left the court in 2010.

The New Jersey Supreme Court has six justices and a chief justice. After a justice has served for seven years, the governor may then elect to tenure the justice, at which time he or she serves until they die, resign, or retire. Of the seven current justices, Republican governors have nominated five and Democratic governors have appointed two. Pierre-Louis is Murphy’s first appointment to the court. Murphy will also decide this year whether to tenure Justice Faustino Fernandez-Vina, who was appointed to the court by Gov. Chris Christie (R) in 2013.

Christie nominated Timpone—who is described by The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Wall Street Journal as a Democrat—in 2016 to permanently fill a vacancy on the state supreme court which had existed since 2010. From May 2010 to April 2016, Christie nominated four justices for Wallace’s seat on the court and the state Senate did not confirm any of them. After Timpone’s nomination was announced in 2016, state Senator Christopher Bateman said, “I look forward to reviewing the nomination of Walter Timpone in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and hope that his nomination represents an end to the judicial logjam that threatened our state courts.”

The state Senate has had a Democratic majority since 2003. Murphy was elected governor in 2017.

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