This week, the Biden administration offered federal monetary support to schools in the Florida district opposing Governor Ron DeSantis’ prohibition on mask guidelines, as COVID-19 surges in Florida.
U.S. Education wrote a letter to the Florida governor, threatening to pull out state funding from defiant school districts
Miguel Cordona of the U.S. Education wrote a letter to DeSantis on Friday, stating that the defiant districts will lose their state funding.
The Secretary of Education just sent a letter to school district superintendents in Florida, supporting them against Ron DeSantis' threats to nix their funding as punishments for protecting children with mask mandates: pic.twitter.com/MpT73lJe5I
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 13, 2021
Cordona also added that the recent actions of Florida blocking schools from adopting the science-based mask mandate in stopping the spread of the virus (that is in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is placing students and school staff at risk.
He continued, stating that he is “deeply concerned of the anti-mask guidelines that the governor implemented in an executive order effective July 30.
Cardona said that school districts are supposedly align with the CDC guidelines, which recommended earlier this month a mask mandate in K-12 schools, whether or not they are vaccinated, in order to slow the spread of the virus.
He then revealed that U.S. Education is eager to partner with the Department of Education in Florida in an effort to further their goal of ensuring the health of students and teachers.
Cordona added that if the Florida Department of Education does not want to pursue this type of approach, the U.S. Department will directly work with educators and school districts in order to serve the students of Florida.
DeSantis: Parents should be given the freedom to choose whether or not they want their kids to wear masks in schools
Meanwhile, DeSantis spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw called out Biden and his administration for giving support to elected officials and superintendents who do not believe parents have the right to decide what is best for their kids.
DESANTIS: “We believe that the parent, rather than the government, should ultimately be able to make that decision.”
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 11, 2021
According to reports, Florida is a state with one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the U.S. caused by the highly transmittable delta variant.
In the past week, Texas and Florida accounted for 40% of the COVID-related hospitalization in the country. Moreover, Florida also hit a record high for the total number of COVID cases.
On the other hand, the Florida Governor stated that parents instead should decide on whether or not they want to make their kids wear masks when they go to school.
The letter sent by U.S. Education against DeSantis is the most fierce pushback made by the Biden administration against state policies. It came in days after Biden mentioned that he does not believe he has the direct power to ovrrturn the actions of governors in different states.
Cardona also sent the same letter to Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott in relation to his prohibition on mask mandates.
