The Biden administration has offered financial assistance to Florida school districts who require students to wear face coverings despite Gov. Ron DeSantis banning mask mandates and threatening to withhold pay from school officials that defy his order.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told DeSantis and state Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran in a Friday letter that districts that lose state funding for refusing to adhere to Florida's mask mandate ban would have the option to receive federal funds.
"Florida’s recent actions to block school districts from voluntarily adopting science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 that are aligned with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) puts students and staff at risk," Cardona wrote in the letter.
Cardona said he was "deeply concerned" by DeSantis’ July 30 executive order that barred school districts from requiring students to wear face coverings and instead left the choice up to the children's parents.
The DOE secretary also pointed out that the schools wishing to reimpose mask mandates would be following suggestions from the CDC, which updated its guidance this month to recommend students wear face coverings, regardless of vaccination status, amid the spread of the highly infectious delta variant.
"We are eager to partner with [the Florida Department of Education] on any efforts to further our shared goals of protecting the health and safety of students and educators," Cardona said. "If FLDOE does not wish to pursue such an approach, the Department will continue to work directly with the school districts and educators that serve Florida’s students."
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DeSantis’ spokeswoman Christina Pushaw slammed the Biden administration for their offer to spend funds "on the salaries of superintendents and elected politicians, who don’t believe that parents have a right to choose what’s best for their children, than on Florida’s students, which is what these funds should be used for," according to POLITICO.
Florida has seen a spike in coronavirus cases due to the delta variant. The state suffered a daily average of more than 21,000 cases over the past week.
The federal government's efforts to undermine DeSantis' move to prohibit mask requirements comes after the White House said it was looking into whether it had the authority to overrule Florida's state government.
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