DeSantis Administration Defies Judge’s Ruling, Withholds Salaries from Members of School Boards That Mandated Masks

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On Monday, Florida’s Department of Education moved ahead with its plans to punish school districts that mandate masking for students and staff, despite a judge’s ruling on Friday that it could not do so.

According to Politico, the department is withholding monthly salaries from school board members in the counties of Alachua and Broward, which had defied a law signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that banned the implementation of mask mandates to combat the spread of Covid-19 in schools.

The average monthly salary for a board member in Broward County is about $3,900, Politico notes.

The DeSantis administration maintains that legislation enacted earlier this year called the Parents’ Bill of Rights gives it the authority ban mask mandates. At least 10 school districts in the state have instituted such measures. Alachua and Broward were the first to do so.

On Friday, Judge John C. Cooper said that the actions of DeSantis and his administration “do not pass constitutional muster.”

The state plans to appeal.

A spokesman for the education department said they were “immensely disappointed” by the ruling.

Florida has been hit especially hard by the pandemic under DeSantis’s stewardship. In the first eight months of 2021, the number of deaths due to Covid have already exceeded those for 2020. Like the U.S. as a whole, just over half of Florida’s population is fully vaccinated, thanks to vaccine hesitancy and hostility among a large subset of the population.

“It’s not surprising that Judge Cooper would rule against parent’s rights and their ability to make the best educational and medical decisions for their family, but instead rule in favor of elected politicians,” said the communications director for DeSantis.