SACRAMENTO — California schools could reopen as early as July to help make up for a “learning loss” caused by early closures and a switch to online classes in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.

Schools typically start the academic year in mid- to late August, but the governor said that might be moved up if the pandemic is under control. He acknowledged that many students have been unable to continue their education properly because of a lack of digital resources and support at home.

“Our kids have lost a lot with this disruption,” Newsom said during a news conference. “There’s been a learning loss. And you can either just roll over and just accept that or you can do something about that.”

Newsom said an earlier start to the school year could allow California to close the gap for students who have fallen behind this spring. Districts across the state began closing campuses in March as the coronavirus spread, forcing students to finish the last two to three months of the year remotely.

But whether classrooms are reopened in July or later, schools will first have to make extraordinary mitigation efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including staggering schedules or otherwise ensuring that students are able to keep a safe distance.

Bringing students back early would also require districts to adjust labor contracts with teachers and other workers, finish construction projects in time for campuses to open and find money to pay for a longer academic year.

“The decision to reopen in July does not just sit with district leaders — the terms and conditions of reopening will have to be negotiated with all of our unions whose members work on a school year calendar,” said Gentle Blythe, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Unified School District.

Claudia Briggs, spokeswoman for the California Teachers Association, said the union welcomed any guidance from the state about returning to school. But teachers know their students best, she said, and must have a say in the working conditions in their districts.

“They want to get back to their students. They want to get back to normalcy,” Briggs said. “But they want to do it safely.”

Tony Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction, said Tuesday was the first he had heard of the early reopening idea. He said that “for now, we still have more questions than answers.”

The state must “consider the fiscal implications,” Thurmond said in a statement. “Social distancing in schools may require smaller class sizes, but schools are going to need additional resources to make it happen — including the possibility of hiring more teachers. Additionally, teachers and school staff will need personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies so that our schools are sanitized.”

Newsom did not provide any details about how districts would open early. He said his administration had discussed the idea in recent days and he wanted to “socialize” it publicly so districts could start preparing.

“We really, really feel strong that when it’s safer for (students), when we can create environments that allow them to go back, we want them to go back,” said Sonia Angell, the state public health director. “We realize, however, this is going to take more planning. And that’s why we are discussing this now. Because we need to roll up our sleeves now and be really thinking critically about how to do this.”

Those decisions will be made in the coming weeks, part of California’s transition into the first phase of restarting public life. Although he did not provide a specific timeline, Newsom said Tuesday that “we believe we are weeks, not months, away from making meaningful modifications” to the statewide stay-at-home order that has kept Californians on lockdown for nearly six weeks.

Pressure is growing on Newsom to loosen the restrictions. Some regions of the state with fewer coronavirus cases have asked the governor to lift the stay-at-home order so they can begin a phased reopening of their local economies. Hundreds of protesters converged at the Capitol last week criticizing the lockdown measures as an overreaction to the pandemic, and scattered rallies have been held elsewhere.

But the governor has held the line on a statewide approach, telling reporters last week that reopening would come sooner if “all of us are checking off the same list.”

Newsom said the first phase of his plan would also allow retail stores to provide curbside pickup for customers, manufacturers to resume making nonessential items such as clothing and furniture, and businesses to bring back employees when working from home is not possible. Some public spaces such as parks could be reopened.

But that will not happen until there is widespread community surveillance testing and other steps that can minimize the spread of the coronavirus, Newsom said. Regions like the Bay Area with stricter local orders would be permitted to maintain those measures even as the state begins to loosen restrictions.

Personal services like gyms and salons, as well as movie theaters and in-person religious ceremonies, won’t be able to reopen until a later phase that Newsom said is still months away.

The highest-risk places — concert venues, sports arenas, convention centers and other spots where large crowds gather — will be shut down even longer, the governor said, possibly until there is widespread immunity or a vaccine for the virus. Experts have said it could take a year or more to develop a vaccine.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jill Tucker contributed to this report.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff