GOP-controlled states are taking a carrot-and-stick approach in the face of school districts and local authorities defying Republican governors’ ban on mask mandates.
Over with the stick, Florida Board of Education voted yesterday to investigate two counties that’ve implemented mask mandates despite Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) ban. Tom Grady, the chair of the board, hinted that funding for school districts in those counties may be withheld, even though earlier this week DeSantis’ office softened its stance on pulling funds from schools, suggesting that officials implementing the mask mandates should opt to dock their own salaries.
Meanwhile, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) is offering a carrot to schools that haven’t issued a mask mandate by announcing he’d grant them $163 million in funding from the federal COVID-19 relief package Congress passed earlier this year for playing along.
It’s the crux of the latest culture war we’re seeing play out in courts and school board meeting rooms in at least eight states across the U.S. Earlier this week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) issued a ban on school mask mandates, joining Florida, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Iowa, and Utah as states that have all prohibited school districts from requiring students and school staff to wear masks.
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GOP-controlled states are taking a carrot-and-stick approach in the face of school districts and local authorities defying Republican governors’ ban on mask mandates.
Over with the stick, Florida Board of Education voted yesterday to investigate two counties that’ve implemented mask mandates despite Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) ban. Tom Grady, the chair of the board, hinted that funding for school districts in those counties may be withheld, even though earlier this week DeSantis’ office softened its stance on pulling funds from schools, suggesting that officials implementing the mask mandates should opt to dock their own salaries.
Meanwhile, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) is offering a carrot to schools that haven’t issued a mask mandate by announcing he’d grant them $163 million in funding from the federal COVID-19 relief package Congress passed earlier this year for playing along.
It’s the crux of the latest culture war we’re seeing play out in courts and school board meeting rooms in at least eight states across the U.S. Earlier this week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) issued a ban on school mask mandates, joining Florida, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Iowa, and Utah as states that have all prohibited school districts from requiring students and school staff to wear masks.
Follow our live coverage below:
The Biden administration should nip this in the bud and declare he’ll send funding to schools denied in the program (similar to Florida).
Arizona gov: a kinder, gentler asshole.
Many states, with Republican governors, apparently feel it is perfectly OK to use young children at risk for covid-19 as what can only be described as political hostage shields to further their own professional careers as Republicans. Don’t they realize that a larger subset of these vulnerable children will die as a consequence of their decisions and actions than might do if best medical practice is followed? How do they live with themselves, and why is the press giving them a free ride? Ask them directly why they are holding fast to policies that will lead to unnecessary deaths among what should be this Nation’s most prized members, that is, the young and future citizens. Do they hold life so cheap? How can anyone claim to be a Republican Party member under these circumstances?
I saw elsewhere that it would cause them to lose the funds entirely. Trying to find it.
We should have known all along that the party of so-called “limited government” really meant that the power is limited to the Republican authoritarian in control.