California's largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, said instruction will be remote only in the fall due to concerns over the coronavirus.
The school districts, which together enroll 825,000 students, are the largest in the U.S. to abandon plans for a physical return to classrooms when they reopen, The New York Times reported.
"This announcement represents a significant disappointment for the many thousands of teachers, administrators and support staff, who were looking forward to welcoming students back in August," the joint announcement read. "It is obviously an even greater disappointment to the many parents who are anxious for their students to resume their education. Most of all, this decision will impact our students in ways that researchers will take years to understand."
"The federal government must provide schools with the resources we need to reopen in a responsible manner," the announcement continued.
The joint announcement came as U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos continued to press the Trump administration's case to quickly reopen public schools, not only for students' social and emotional development, but also to allow parents to return to work fully, the newspaper said.
DeVos and President Donald Trump have threatened to withhold federal funds from schools that don't reopen, Axios noted, with DeVos saying Sunday the money might be used for families to find other options for their children.
The move was announced as the state has seen a rise in COVID-19 cases. The seven-day average was reported Sunday at over 8,500 new cases per day.
According to Axios, The United Teachers of Los Angeles said Friday that 83% of its members said in a poll that schools should not reopen physically in August.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
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