They closed down the entire Fort Worth school district.  Nearly 80,000 kids out of school (over 130,000 kids statewide), unexpectedly, for two weeks, because of ONE CASE of the flu. During TAKS time (our standardized test system), which the Texas Education Agency has said can be postponed, and AP testing time. In Fort Worth, many of the parents are hourly workers who can't get extra sick time or afford to take unpaid vacations, or afford unexpected childcare. The Fort Worth superintendent's response? A too-sweet smile at the camera and "We are hoping the businesses in our community will work with us during this time."

 

(DMN article with some details)

This amount of time is way over the state mandated time that schools could be closed without having to take make-up days, so guess which schoolchildren are going to end up going to school in the Texas June heat? Imagine the energy costs.

Most districts and private schools are now reacting in a much more measured way, closing down individual campuses instead of entire districts.  There is still no good information on whether this is really a more deadly strain of the flu than what usually makes the rounds remains to be seen.  (Remember, the CDC estimates that the regular ol' influenza we see all the time kills about 36,000 in the U.S. every year - we're nowhere near that number or pace, and this isn't an airborne virus).

 

I want to know what this is costing the state - and okay, the federal gov't, since this is all but a declared national emergency at this point, and Governor Perry did issue a disaster declaration and has asked for federal assistance in Texas.  But I'm mostly concerned with the hit Texas is taking financially.