The Politics of Pandemic School Operations for Reopening and Beyond: Evidence from Virginia

Post-COVID-19, is education losing its special status as a policy domain more insulated from partisan politics than other policy areas? Indeed, a community's political makeup influenced its schools’ pandemic learning modality, but did it predict other aspects of educational operations? We studied the role of Republican vote share, race, markets, and public health in predicting a range of operations—from modality to family engagement, to social-emotional support, to teacher professional development—in Virginia. Partisanship and racial composition were similarly predictive of initial in-person offerings, but partisanship was less predictive over time, and school operational decisions were less politicized than modality. Our findings provide optimism for leaders seeking to avoid highly polarized dynamics, especially on issues that have not become nationalized.