They keep schools closed by lobbying and protesting.

"If I die from catching COVID-19 from being forced back into Pinellas County Schools, you can drop my dead body right here!" shouts one demonstrator in my new video.

But schools rarely spread COVID-19. 

Studies on tens of thousands of people found "no consistent relationship between in-person K-12 schooling and the spread of the coronavirus."

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, encouraged schools to reopen, saying "close the bars and keep the schools open."

Heritage Foundation education researcher Lindsey Burke points out that studies in 191 countries find "no consistent link between reopening schools and increased rates of COVID transmission."

She says schools aren't COVID-19 hotspots.

"But it's logical that they would be," I push back. "Kids are bunched together."

"Positivity rates in schools are generally below those in the broader community," she says.

Closed schools hurt low-income students most because they have fewer learning alternatives. The privileged get around union restrictions.

Almost all of California's government-run schools are closed, but California Governor Gavin Newsom's sends his kids to a private school that stayed open.