https://www.khou.com/article/news/education/tea-updates-guidelines-for-upcoming-school-year-including-virtual-start-for-the-first-4-weeks/285-bfb47fb2-dfca-4e49-90f6-493e334712eb gets it right.
Schools *may* delay starting date. (They will make up the time, presumably.)
Schools *may* be online for 4 weeks. Instead of the previously allowed 3 weeks. (Notice: No "call on", which is stronger than "encourage" and much stronger than "permitted to" ... all over a humungous, Earth-shattering ... single week. The Hill writer needs to learn how to do more than expand a 1-paragraph summary to a multiparagraph article based on what sounds good.)
Then, if the school board in a district votes to, the district can ask for an addition 4 weeks.
That puts most districts either a week or two into their second marking period or matches the end of their first grading period.
It pushes it past the election
only if they postpone by 4 weeks and get permission for the full 8 weeks online (maybe 3 weeks postponement if it's a late-starting district; but even then, not past the election if, like some, they start early).
Houston ISD has said it intends to start school 2 weeks late (it was starting a bit later than many) and do their first marking period online. That should push their in-person classes to the end of October--but still not after the election. Nobody's saying that HISD is doing this because of presidential politics. "I know, let's subject a school population well over 50% non-white to COVID to help our guy Joe!" Really want to say that about a majority-minority school board in a city that's (D)?)
It's more than worth nothing that the same announcement also said that if local health authorities say to close a school (or set of schools) the TEA's going to cooperate.
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