State of Florida withholds school board salaries over masks

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Despite a court ruling saying school districts can require students to wear masks, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is still withholding money to penalize Broward County schools.

In a release issued Monday evening from the Florida Department of Education, Corcoran doesn’t address the ruling from Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper, who found that Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t have the authority to ban mask mandates when he issued an executive order July 30 and directed the Department of Health to issue an order supporting his position.

Corcoran said the state will withhold money equivalent to the salaries of eight of the nine Broward School Board members who voted for a mask mandate. He also is withholding the salaries of four of five board members in Alachua who supported it. He said the districts can’t use money designed for students or teacher pay to offset the penalty.

“We’re going to fight to protect parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children,” Corcoran said. “They know what is best for their children. What’s unacceptable is the politicians who have raised their right hands and pledged, under oath, to uphold the Constitution but are not doing so. Simply said, elected officials cannot pick and choose what laws they want to follow.”

The release said the commissioner and state Board of Education “retain the right and duty to impose additional sanctions and take additional enforcement action to bring each school district into compliance with state law and rule.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3jw2y9i