As Republican governors in Texas, Florida, and Arizona declare a war on mandatory mask wearing in schools, the Biden administration has pledged to intervene.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden threatened “legal action, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators” on mask mandates.
The federal government will not “sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators from protecting our children,” Biden said.
“If you aren’t going to fight COVID-19, at least get out of the way of everyone else who’s trying,” Biden added.
The president suggested that the Department of Education’s civil rights enforcement authority can prevent states from blocking mask mandates for students and teachers.
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Also on Wednesday, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a blog post that the Education Department will be looking into whether state policies, including bans on mask mandates, “may infringe on the rights of every student to access public education equally.”
Cardona sent letters last week to state leaders in Texas and Florida, making it clear that districts can use federal COVID-19 relief funds if their states sanction them for mandating masks.
Biden said he’s empowering Cardona to “take additional steps to protect our children.”
“The Department stands with these dedicated educators who are working to safely reopen schools and maintain safe in-person instruction,” Cardona wrote earlier this week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all K-12 students wear masks when they return to classrooms. But in many GOP-led states, governors have signed executive orders aimed at preventing compulsory face coverings.
Some school districts have defied those orders, but others are worried that they’ll be denied funding if they challenge their state leaders.
In Arizona, for instance, Gov. Doug Ducey introduced a policy that would deny grant money to schools that require masks. In Florida, a school board controlled by Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged to investigate and possibly punish educators who have ignored the state’s anti-mask stance. And in Texas, the fate of Gov. Greg Abbot’s mandate prohibition is currently being sorted out in the court system.