MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Florida officials are threatening to withhold funds equal to the salaries of school board members if school districts in two counties don‘<\/b>
\nMIAMI (AP) \u2014 Florida officials are threatening to withhold funds equal to the salaries of school board members if school districts in two counties don\u2019t immediately do away with strict mask mandates as the state continues to battle through high hospitalization rates. School boards in Broward and Alachua counties received a warning Friday from the State Board of Education giving them 48 hours to walk back their decisions to require masks for all students, only exempting those with a doctor\u2019s note. Broward County has the second-largest school district in the state. \u201cWe cannot have government officials pick and choose what laws they want to follow,\u201d said Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran in an emailed statement. \u201cThese are the initial consequences to their intentional refusal to follow state law and state rule to purposefully and willingly violate the rights of parents.\u201d Corcoran said the two districts are violating the Parents\u2019 Bill of Rights and a late July executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis that prompted rules limiting how far districts can go with mask requirements. The Republican governor has pushed for school districts not to mandate masks for all students, ordering the state\u2019s health and education departments to devise rules so that parents can choose. Corcoran was recommended to the post by DeSantis and appointed by the State Board of Education in 2019. DeSantis maintains masks can be detrimental for children\u2019s development and that younger children simply don\u2019t wear masks properly. But board members in the counties of Broward, home to Fort Lauderdale, and Alachua, home to Gainesville, decided not to allow parents to easily opt out of the mandate as surging cases fueled by the delta variant began straining hospitals. Florida on Friday surpassed 3 million total COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a weekly report from the state\u2019s health department. It also reported 1,486 new deaths in a week, significantly raising the seven-day average of reported deaths per day from 153 to 212 over the past week. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported there were 16,849 people in hospitals with COVID-19 \u2014 3,500 of them in intensive care. Two other school districts had originally started the school year allowing parents to easily opt out of wearing masks, but tightened their measures this week. And the school board of the state\u2019s largest district in Miami-Dade County adopted a policy of only allowing mask exemptions with a doctor\u2019s note. Because of the size of the school districts\u2019 budgets, the cuts are more symbolic than harmful. According to the Legislature\u2019s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, school board members in Alachua County make $40,000 per year and in Broward County, $46,000. Alachua has about 30,000 students and a $258 million general fund budget. Broward County has about 270,000 students and a $2.7 billion general fund budget. Corcoran\u2019s orders require that school districts provide information regarding the compensation of school board members who voted to impose strict mandates if they don\u2019t immediately reverse their decisions. It also outlines it will begin to withhold from state funds the amount equal to their monthly salary, saying districts are prohibited from cutting funds in other areas such as teachers pay or student services. U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona spoke Friday with the superintendents of the two school districts, saying the Biden administration backed their decisions to adapt their policies based on CDC recommendations. He added they should use federal pandemic relief funds to make up for any financial sanctions. \u201cIt is deeply troubling to see state leaders putting politics ahead of the health and safety of our students,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cThe president asked me to do everything I can to help protect our nation\u2019s students and support the local leaders who are fighting for them.\u201d DeSantis attacked the Biden administration\u2019s response, calling it \u201cabsolutely outrageous\u201d and governmental \u201coverreach.\u201d \u201cTo have the federal government come in and overrule the rights of the parents as if they know better?\u201d DeSantis said at a news conference Friday. \u201cThey want to kneecap the parents and empower teachers unions.\u201d Broward school board President Rosalind Osgood stood by the board\u2019s decision, saying the governor was \u201coverreaching his authority.\u201d In a statement, she said the district has asked its lawyers to explore legal challenges and will provide a response to Friday\u2019s order within 48 hours as requested. \u201cThe Constitution of the state of Florida gives local school boards the authority to make policies that govern local school districts,\u201d Osgood said. It\u2019s unclear what will happen with the state funds if a judge decides to block DeSantis\u2019 order regarding masks. On Thursday, a state judge cleared the way for a three-day trial next week on a lawsuit from parents challenging DeSantis. An attorney in the lawsuit said those decisions should be left to local school boards. In asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, attorneys for the governor contended that the governor\u2019s order simply upholds a law that gives parents the right to make health care decisions. The law makes no specific mention of masks. On Friday, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a complaint in a Florida appeals court to invalidate portions of the rule that dictates schools must allow parents to opt out of mask requirements. Copyright \u00a9 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.<\/p>\n