The tug of war between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Biden administration over mask mandates in schools escalated Thursday when the state Board of Education voted unanimously to penalize school districts that continue to require masks, a move the U.S. Department of Education warned could be illegal.
The board found that eight districts were not in compliance with a new state law on parental rights and that they violated a recent state health department rule that says students exposed to the coronavirus cannot be ordered to quarantine if they are asymptomatic.
School board members in the eight districts will have their salaries withheld. That’s already happened in Alachua and Broward counties — the first districts to defy DeSantis and implement mask mandates. But the combined amount withheld — over $500,000 for both districts, according to officials — was replaced with grants from the U.S. Education Department. President Biden said last month that Supporting America’s Families and Educators (SAFE) grants will restore 100 percent of pay for school workers who are punished for “doing the right thing.”
On Thursday, Florida’s Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said the state won’t stand for what he called federal interference. The state Board of Education members agreed and said any money sent to school districts under the Biden administration’s SAFE Grants will mean an equal amount to be withheld by the state.
“What we are witnessing in these projects, the SAFE Grants, is one of the most egregious violations of the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Florida sovereignty in our lifetimes,” Corcoran said. “By their own terms, these grants encourage school districts to violate Florida law … if the federal government can simply backfill or buy off school districts with grants, then the state’s enforcement authority is neutralized, nullified and abolished.”
The U.S. Education Department sent a letter to Corcoran on Thursday warning that the federal agency was watching and that the state’s effort to increase penalties to school districts with mask mandates could be illegal and may violate federal law about how public school districts get funds from the state. ...
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