In recent articles from CBS News and CNN Politics, I weighed in on President Trump’s threaten to withhold federal funding from schools that fail to open for in-person instruction in the fall. Bottom line: the federal government currently provides only about 8% of all K-12 revenues, so even if he could make such a move, the aggregate impact would be small. Still, high-poverty districts depend more on federal aid, and the US Dept of Education has more discretion over Covid relief aid to school, so there are reasons to pay attention. But politically this is threat is almost surely an empty one.