The battle between the Broward School district and state officials over a mask mandate took another turn on Friday, when the Florida Board of Education notified the Broward School Board that their salaries will be cut because of a mandatory mask policy, which defied the rules of state governor Ron DeSantis.
The State Board of Education gave Broward, and Alachua County – another district with a mask mandate, 48 hours to walk back its decision to require masks for all students, only exempting those with a doctor’s note. Broward County has the second-largest school district in the state.
“We cannot have government officials pick and choose what laws they want to follow,” said Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran in an emailed statement.
“These are the initial consequences to their intentional refusal to follow state law and state rule to purposefully and willingly violate the rights of parents.”
Under the governor’s order, public schools must allow parents or legal guardians the option to opt-out of their child from wearing a face-covering or mask.
But students in Broward County returned to school on August 18 required to wear masks. The Broward School Board has been adamant that their mask mandate is for the safety of students and staff members.
Dr Rosalind Osgood, the chair of the Broward School Board, said as a policymaker, she could not send students back to school without wearing masks.
The letter to the Broward School Board stated that a portion of the board members’ salaries will be deducted on a monthly basis until they comply with the governor.
The warning came just a day after two other counties in South Florida, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties also imposed a mask mandate, without the general opt-out option for parents. Miami-Dade County adopted a policy of only allowing mask exemptions with a doctor’s note.
In the meantime, President Joe Biden has offered federal aid for school districts that have had funding cut because of mask mandates.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona spoke Friday with the superintendents of the Broward and Alachua school districts, saying the Biden administration backed their decisions to adapt their policies based on CDC recommendations.
“It is deeply troubling to see state leaders putting politics ahead of the health and safety of our students,” he said in a statement. “The president asked me to do everything I can to help protect our nation’s students and support the local leaders who are fighting for them.”
DeSantis attacked the Biden administration’s response, calling it “absolutely outrageous” and governmental “overreach.”
“To have the federal government come in and overrule the rights of the parents as if they know better?” DeSantis said at a news conference Friday. “They want to kneecap the parents and empower teachers unions.”
