Florida Board of Education punishes 8 districts for mask warrants

The political battle in Florida over masks in schools escalated this week, as the state’s Board of Education voted to allow sanctions against eight local school districts for failing to follow instructions from administration of Governor Ron DeSantis that make masks optional.

The eight districts, whose boards of directors have all voted to require masks in school buildings, could face equal cuts to the salaries of members of their school boards unless, according to the Tampa Bay Times, they show in the 48 hours that they comply with the orders of the State. The districts are found in Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach counties.

The measure was unanimously approved in a conference call Thursday by the State Board of Education, all of whose members are appointed by Republican governors. The vote came after superintendents in all eight districts argued that their mask policies had been effective in curbing the spread of the virus.

After the vote, one of the superintendents, Alberto M. Carvalho of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, noted on Twitter that there had been “no major outbreaks” in his district and that the cases of students had declined after a peak in early September.

“We do not agree with the recommendation of today’s State Board of Education and believe wholeheartedly that we respect the law, reason and science” he said in a message on Twitter.

But the state council said county school boards “willfully and knowingly violate the rights of students and parents by denying them the ability to make personal and private decisions about health care and education for their children “.

Masks in schools have become the center of a fiercely partisan debate in Florida, Texas, Arizona and other states whose Republican governors oppose mask mandates as an assault on personal freedoms. At the end of July, Governor DeSantis, a possible Republican presidential candidate, signed an executive order ordering state officials to guarantee parents the power to decide whether children wear masks at school.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all students, teachers, and staff wear masks, regardless of their immunization status. Most masks offer much more protection to others than to the person wearing them, by dispersing exhaled aerosols that carry the coronavirus to an infected person. Thus, individual masking undermines the protection offered by masks.

President Biden, a Democrat, has openly criticized Republican governors blocking local mask mandates, and the federal Department of Education has begun investigating whether such policies in five states violate the civil rights of students with disabilities.

Lawsuits have also been filed in a number of states, including Florida, challenging the ban on mask warrants. In late August, a federal judge said the Florida state constitution allowed school districts to impose strict mask warrants on students, inflicting defeat on Mr DeSantis. The state has asked an appeals court to overturn the decision, which has been temporarily put on hold pending a final decision.

The Florida School Board on Thursday argued that a “parent’s bill of rights” passed by state lawmakers earlier this year gave parents the exclusive right to decide whether their children should wear masks. The council statement said the law requires districts and schools to “protect the right of parents to make health care decisions such as hiding their children from Covid-19.”

“Every member of the school board and every school principal has a duty to obey the law, whether they approve it or not,” State council chairman Tom Grady said in the statement.