The administration of President Joe Biden said on Friday that it will step in to repay the Florida schools which are openly defying Gov. Ron Desantis by requiring students to wear masks.
In a letter (pdf) to DeSantis (R), Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said that the Biden administration will ensure that any school district which has its state funding reduced as punishment by the governor can draw on $7 billion in U.S. taxpayer money from the pandemic relief measure passed by Congress earlier this year.
“I am deeply concerned about Florida’s July 30 Executive Order prohibiting school districts from adopting universal masking policies consistent with CDC guidance,” Cardona wrote. “The Department stands with these dedicated educators who are working to safely reopen schools and maintain safe in-person instruction.”
In an executive order issued on July 30, DeSantis prohibited Florida school districts from imposing blanket mask mandates on students. The state’s health and education departments subsequently issued rules to prop up the order, including a clause that required school districts that impose mask mandates to allow parents to opt their children out.
Three counties are currently in open defiance to the governor’s order: Alachua, Leon, and Broward. Two of the counties, Alachua and Leon, have been put on notice by Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, who sent a letter warning officials that he is investigating whether they are in violation of Florida law. The mandates in Alachua and Leon require parents to obtain a health professional’s signature to opt children out of the mask mandates, a provision DeSantis’ office views as in violation of the spirit of the executive order.
The DeSantis administration threatened to withhold state funding from the counties in the amount of the salaries of the commissioners and superintendents who backed the mandates.
