8th October (WNN) — The Florida Board of Education has approved a proposal to approve eight school districts that have made masks mandatory, in violation of Ron DeSantis’ executive order from Gov.
The board, during an emergency meeting on Thursday, unanimously backed approving school districts if they did not drop their mask orders within 48 hours.
Mask mandates have been a hot issue in the Sunshine State after a controversial executive order was issued in July amid a spiking in COVID-19 cases, against Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance in school districts from mandating masks. stops.
While mask proponents have argued that masks are necessary in schools because many students are still too young to be vaccinated against the virus, the Republican governor and his supporters argue that the mandate should provide parents with the best healthcare for their children. gives the right to choose.
The board announced in late August that the salaries of school board members in Alachua and Broward counties would be withheld, with twelve school districts issuing masks mandates in violation of an executive order that threatened to punish them with the governor. Gave.
Three school boards have since rescinded their masked mandates, with the board agreeing on Thursday to withhold state funding from Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Lyon, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach counties .
According to the approved proposals, the board would withhold “an amount equal to 1/12 of the salaries of all school board members” from the districts.
Because of the threat of sanctions, the Biden administration created the Project Safe Grant program for school districts that are penalized financially by state boards of education for implementing CDC-backed COVID-19 measures.
However, Florida’s proposals call for school districts to withhold funding equivalent to any federal grants they receive for not complying with DeSantis’s order.
“If the federal government can backfill or buy our school districts with grants, this board’s enforcement authority has been nullified, repealed and terminated,” Florida Board of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said during the meeting Thursday. “Floridians should be outraged by the Biden administration’s use of federal taxes in an effort to make enforcement of Florida’s laws so ineffective.”
During the meeting, school board superintendents were allowed to debate their position with Miami-Dade superintendent Alberto Carvalho and asked to delay restrictions until the end of the month in the hope that cases would subside. .
“Since August, we have lost 14 staff members and one student, and several people are hospitalised,” he said. “We know that masks reduce viral spread. Those who say otherwise are misinformed or misled.”
via twitter After the meeting, he said he would respond once a formal order related to the restrictions is received.
“We disagree with today’s State Board of Education recommendation and believe wholeheartedly that we are in compliance with the law, logic and science,” he said.
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