State officials from the Florida Board of Education defied a recent ruling from a state judge and levied sanctions against school board members who upheld a rejection of the DeSantis administration’s orders on mask mandates.
Monthly salaries are being withheld from board members in Alachua and Broward counties who supported the mask requirements.
In Broward county, the monthly pay for a school board member is about $3,897.
Broward County Public Schools Interim Superintendent Vickie Cartwright said late Monday that the county will continue its mask requirements, saying: “The health and safety of our students, teachers, and staff continue to be our main priorities.”
At this point, 11 counties have rejected the governor’s rules preventing schools from mandating masks, including school districts in three Republican-leaning counties.
“We’re going to fight to protect parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children,” Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said in a statement. “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.”
Just Friday a circuit court judge ruled the DeSantis administration lacked the authority to punish schools for implementing a mask mandate.
Politico and Daily Beast