Video: Biden reacts after DeSantis threatens to cut funding for schools with mask mandates
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Two Florida school districts voted Tuesday night to mandate masks for students, defying Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Alachua County Public Schools announced students will be required to wear masks for the first two weeks of school.
The school board says it will reevaluate at its Aug. 17 meeting.
The county says it was “in light of dramatic increases in local COVID cases and hospitalizations, including among children.”
A similar mandate was passed in Duvall county, according to the Florida Times-Union.
The Duvall County School Board voted late Tuesday night to make face masks required among students unless parents or guardians opt-out with appropriate paperwork, according to the Florida Times-Union.
Adding the layer of paperwork for families who want their students to opt-out of mask-wearing marks an attempted workaround to the governor’s executive order.
This all comes less than a week after Gov. DeSantis signed an executive order signed that effectively bans school systems from establishing mask mandates.
The governor’s order gives the commissioner of education full authority to keep schools in line, including taking away state funding from counties that violate the order.
