A judge ruled last week that the governor’s ban violates the same Parents’ Bill of Rights it was trying to impose.
The Florida Department of Education on Monday announced it was withholding funds from at least two school districts in the state in response to their rules on masking for students and staff. It’s doing this in spite of last week’s court ruling, which said that the districts were within their rights to make such rules. The salaries of Broward County and Alachua County school district officials will be withheld, said Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, because the mask rules they implemented, designed to help keep students and staff safe by preventing the spread of coronavirus, went against an order from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) banning districts from making such rules. “The withholding of funds will continue monthly until each school board complies with state law and rule,” Corcoran said. Corcoran tried to frame his department’s actions in terms of “protect[ing] parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children,” in a statement. “What’s unacceptable is the politicians who have raised their right hands and pledged, under oath, to uphold the Constitution but are not doing so,” Corcoran added. Yet a ruling from Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper on Friday disagreed with the notion that mask rules in schools were unconstitutional, as Corcoran has claimed.
