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It is good to see a pragmatic Democrat following the data. The percentage of total COVID-19 cases represented by children is growing: 14.3% in the week ended Aug. 5, compared with less than 2% for most of 2020. Until the vaccine is available to children under 12, more states should follow California Governor Gavin Newsom’s new requirement that all public school teachers to get fully vaccinated or face frequent testing. The option to remain “unvaccinated but frequently tested” should be limited to school staff with valid medical exemptions. Unvaccinated adults working in public schools, paid with public dollars, have no place contributing to the current public health crisis caused by a rampant variant that not only puts kids in harm’s way, but continues to mutate in the unvaccinated.

Children — even the vast majority who have remained physically healthy — have suffered too much in this this pandemic. With schools shuttered for significant periods spanning two school years, they have been isolated from teachers, friends, and other role models. They have been barred from sports and extracurricular activities. Some have missed meals usually provided by their school. Many have been unsupervised in households where parents are required to work in person; they have suffered through COVID-caused deaths of older relatives, and so on. We may not know the full extent of the trauma for years.

The safest and healthiest place for students to be is in school — even before academics are taken into consideration. Learning loss is real — and it exacerbates existing inequities in our public education systems. Using the imperfect but best data available, McKinsey & Company translated 2021’s spring in-school test scores of more than 1.6 million elementary school students across 40 states into “months of lost learning.”  It found, compared to similar students in previous years, students on average were five months behind in math and four months behind in reading. Students in majority-Black and predominantly low-income schools were even further behind their higher-income and suburban peers, as were younger students. When considering the huge strides first and second graders usually make in learning to read, and the importance of literacy to future school work, recent reports putting those 2021 students’ average two grade levels or more behind schedule are alarming.

Newsom — unlike a handful of Republican governors who are kicking and screaming in opposition to common sense safety measures — recognizes our urgent national imperative: Ensuring our public schools open, remain open, and operate as safely as possible this fall. His decision follows the Biden administration and Congress’ leadership on this enormous task. They have sent almost $200 billion in aid to the nation’s public schools to help them rise to the challenge. Those dollars flow through the states before reaching districts and schools. The stakes are far too high to leave districts free to take the money, but ignore science and common sense.

We applaud California’s governor for being the adult in his state on this issue. The other 49 should waste no time following suit.

Tressa Pankovits is Co-Director of Reinventing America’s Schools Project at Progressive Policy Institute.