The Florida Board of Education will withhold money equal to the salaries of local school board members from districts in Alachua and Broward counties over their tough mask mandates for students, which state officials say violate Florida law.
“We cannot have government officials pick and choose what laws they want to follow,” Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said in a written statement Friday.
The move comes days after the State Board of Education interrogated the Alachua and Broward superintendents about their mask mandates, which allow students to opt out for medical reasons only.
These dispute centers on the question: Under the Florida Constitution, who has ultimate authority over how schools operate during a pandemic — the state or the local school board? The Constitution says students are entitled a “safe, secure” public education and authorizes local school boards to “operate, control, and supervise all free public schools within the school district.”
The state is attempting to enforce Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order and a Department of Health rule, which both invoke Florida’s Parental Bill of Rights, that leave decisions on masking completely up to parents’ discretion. The governor insists masks are inappropriate for small children.
Unless the school boards notify the state within 48 hours that they are backing down, “the Department of Education will then begin to withhold from state funds, on a monthly basis, an amount equal to 1/12 of the total annual compensation of the school board members who voted to impose the unlawful mask mandates until each district demonstrates compliance,” state officials said.
The department ordered the districts to provide “information confirming the current annual compensation provided to all school board members.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona responded by calling school officials in the two counties “to reassure them that the president and his administration stand with them and with all educators who put student and staff health and education first” and was willing to send federal money, he said in a written statement.
“It is deeply troubling to see state leaders putting politics ahead of the health and safety of our students, and that instead of supporting our educators for doing the right thing, state leaders are trying to punish them,” he said.
“Let me reiterate: we stand ready to assist any district facing repercussions for imposing CDC-recommended COVID-19 prevention strategies that will protect the health and safety of students, educators, and staff.”
According to data from Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, as of September 2020 (the data haven’t been updated yet for the new school year), Alachua’s school board are each paid $40,287 a year.
Four members of Alachua’s school board voted on the matter, as there was a vacancy on the five-member board. DeSantis filled the vacancy on Wednesday and it is not clear how the new board member will be affected.
Broward’s nine school board members were paid $46,773, according to the September data.
The order says the districts may not “reduce any expenditures other than those related to compensation for school board members.”
“These are the initial consequences to their intentional refusal to follow state law and state rule to purposefully and willingly violate the rights of parents,” Corcoran said in a written statement. “This is simply unacceptable behavior.”
Additional sanctions are possible to “bring each school district into compliance with state law and rule,” the order says. The state board members previously floated removing local board members from their positions, which is potentially still on the table.
With COVID cases are surging in Florida, there are no vaccines approved for students under the age of 12 and some schools have closed due to COVID outbreaks and exposure. Options for temporary distance learning are fewer this year, compared to those offered by districts last year, making learning from home less accessible for students having to quarantine.
Meanwhile, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach county school districts have voted to enact mask mandates similar to those in Alachua and Broward, requiring medical documentation for opt outs.
The Sarasota County school district, which allows parents to choose whether their child should be masked, was set to re-evaluate its policy Friday afternoon,
Nikki Fried, the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services and a candidate in next year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, has been a vocal critic of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic.
She tweeted Friday: “Defunding our schools to make them less safe is unconscionable and unconstitutional. We are reaching out to the White House and legal counsel right now.”
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden instructed Cardona to “assess all available tools in taking action” to ensure that “governors and other officials are taking all appropriate steps to prepare for a safe return to school for our nation’s children, including not standing in the way of local leaders making such preparations.”
Trial opens Monday in Leon County Circuit Court in a lawsuit filed by parents with children in public schools who allege that DeSantis exceeded his authority in imposing his masks-optional policy on local school boards.
–Danielle J. Brown, Florida Phoenix
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Shelly says
Good
Steve says
Its a mask. Of course you would probably look better with one on.
Christopher Todd Lemke says
Double good.
Rachael says
Right on gov. desantis! Theses commies can shove it!
James M. Mejuto says
re: Rachael says: Who are the “commies” and what does communism have to do
with education and public safety ?
James M. Mejuto
Robjr says
They don’t know.
William Moya says
Some of us are Socialists.
Angela Mahler says
In Florida the local boards have control of Education. Republicans love local control….no?
ReturnYourStimulus says
And have you returned your stimulus checks? If you have children, and are in the correct monetary range, are you denying the extra child stimulus? Have you opened a book to know that communism isn’t socialism? If you’re against socialism don’t call the cops, the fire department, visit a library, drive on the interstate, partake in Medicare, Medicare, or Social Security, and on and on and on…dear girl, educate yourself for you sound as ignorant as a Trumper who is following a guy that puts his pants on backwards and thinks identifying a lion on a test is hard work. Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. You fell for the con, move on. 🤷♀️
Deathsantis THE COMMIE says
Actually, your wee-little boy, Ronni the Dumb sounds more like a Commie now than anything else! Threatening to withhold funds from parts of a state which, he is SUPPOSED to be caring for, sounds pretty Commie. IMPOSING what he says, when he says, even if it’s against science and facts, then realizing that it might not go the way he wants so he signs a last minute law for it, sounds pretty Commie. Anyone who questions or speaks out against his ignorance should fear him, sounds pretty Commie. Anyone who stands up to him because they would rather do the RIGHT and HUMANE thing for others should fear that he will take them out of their jobs, sounds pretty Commie. Yeah.. this all sounds kind of like a control driven individual, you know the type, the ones that wind up becoming communist leaders. But, I know.. I know, that’s not what your hazy mirror-mirror on the wall tells you everyday when, you salute your Commie wannabe leaders like your little boy Ronni and his pudgy, orange Papa Trump the Frump.
RJ says
Corcoran and DeSantis are making Hitler proud. All they need are brown shirts.
Local control now.
can'tfoolme says
Does that apply to the federal government too? What happened to the governors’ and states’ rights as given in the constitution to control the power of take-over by the feds?
Can’t fool me either says
You missed one… How about the state government who want to take over any authority or say of the counties in their state? Or maybe we should just, do away with individual counties in states so their governors can just DICTATE and IMPOSE whatever the heck they felt like when they woke up one morning?
Ray W. says
Hello Pogo. Interesting point.
As I recall, though this was a long time ago, if one failed the Florida Bar exam three times, there was a waiting period before one could take it again. I just don’t remember how long the wait was. The Bar exam is given each February and July. The three year interim does not prove that Corcoran ever failed Florida’s, or any other jurisdiction’s, Bar exam. Hypothetically, he could have taken a job in D.C. and passed the appropriate exam there and then become licensed in Florida three years later. I retired and do not practice anymore, so I don’t keep up with such details.
Pogo says
@Ray W.
With sincere respect for you and FlaglerLive, and profound disgust for Corcoran:
I welcome anyone, including Dick Corcoran, to submit information concerning his ever having passed the Bar exam anywhere other than Florida. While we’re at it, include a birth certificate, class ranking at institutions Big Dick paid for diplomas — and proof of where he was on January 6, 2021. I’d call that a good start.
In the meantime, I reiterate Exhibit A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Corcoran and its 56 References.
Fit to be the Florida’s Commissioner Of Education?! Really?!
And this — to all:
“The world is a vicious and brutal place. We think we’re civilized. In truth, it’s a cruel world and people are ruthless. They act nice to your face, but underneath they’re out to kill you. Even your friends are out to get you: they want your job, they want your house, they want your money, they want your wife, and they even want your dog. Those are your friends; your enemies are even worse!”
– Donald Trump, 45th US President
And so it goes.
Ray W. says
Nothing has happened to governors’ and states’ rights as given in the federal Constitution, because state’s rights and governors’ rights have never existed, only powers.
There will always be tension between federal and state powers; its called checks and balances. The tension was placed there on purpose, so that neither the states nor the federal government would ever gain complete control over the others’ actions. Our founding fathers wanted to control factions by using factions against each other. They hoped that if one faction ever gained control over any one state government, the other state governments and the federal government would push back against that state, through use of federal senate and presidential powers. The belief was that the federal house was more likely to be controlled by factions in larger states so they gave each state two senate seats to more equally distribute powers.
In other words, our founding fathers knew that people like can’tfoolme would exist and they gave all of us protections against such people. They hoped the federal form of constitutional government would produce people of virtue and feared mob rule. They knew that states were more susceptible to mob rule incited by factions.
Read and reread the Federalist Papers. If you can’t read all of them, read those pertaining to the use of factions against each other. Read and reread the Anti-Federalist papers. These documents are collections of newspaper essays published in hopes of persuading fellow citizens during the time between the publication of the proposed federal Constitution and time for voting by various elected committees of citizens who were sent to debate and potentially ratify the proposed Constitution.
As for “governors’ and states’ rights”, that is a misnomer created decades after the fact to support the insurrection that we now call the Civil War. It is well documented that Union soldiers, hearing the phrase “state’s rights” voiced with a southern accent, wrote of their confusion over hearing captured rebels talking about fighting for “state’s rats.” It made no sense to them, because people in the north never talked about state’s rights, not because they didn’t believe in them, but because they knew that states had powers, not rights. People possess rights and all reserved powers. Please read the 10th Amendment to the federal Constitution and Article I, Section 1 of Florida’s constitution; they inform us of governmental political powers, not rights. The various state and federal governments never received any rights; they each received various powers from the people who created the various governments, with all other political powers reserved to either the people or the states.
Deborah S Mott says
BS!
A.j says
That’s right, call the Republican Bluff. The Repubs were voted on they csn be voted out. We can fo this Dems vote them out of office.
Steve says
DUHSantis will be remembered at the Ballot box come 2022 IMO. Hawking Regeneron over masks and vaccines brilliant. Not too bright Vote Accordingly
Dennis says
Withhold all their money and let Biden pay for all of it. He has hundreds of billions of slush money to spend how he sees fit.
Steve says
Nothing like supporting Education WTG
Steve says
Have Humpty Trumpty pay for it with his 100 million $ slush fund that his faithful followers gave him lmao
palmcoaster says
Sue him for every student and teacher that will get Covid while attending school…
Mark says
Don’t worry Joe Biden will save us!
WakeUp says
Why would people not want to protect kids? Oh wait…DeSantis’ kids go to a private school that requires masks. So, this isn’t about masks, is it? Nope. It’s about DeSantis pushing the limits of his power. It’s about him wanting to kill public schools. It’s about him wanting to give more vouchers the pump up the charter school system. It’s about him not caring if black, brown, or white kids from middle-class to poverty level die and kill their families in the process. His the prototypical Republican these days – woo the stupid and easily manipulated for votes, while winking at the rich donors and laughing about the con.
James M. Mejuto says
re: WakeUp says. . . . Actually, it’s about re-election time: Governor in 2022 and
President in 2024 !
James M. Mejuto
Mythoughts says
I thought but I am obvious wrong, elected officials that take an oath of office to protect and serve means protect their citizens for attacks and health issues.
We now are witness DeSantis doesn’t care about the health of his citizens adults and children. His only goal is to win the Presidential election.
He is a mini Trump dictator, the future will see how far this gets him.
Mike Cocchiola says
Republican hypocrisy at its finest. All over the south Republican legislators preach defiance of federal “encroachment”. Now this.
“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
Mark says
I thought Republicans were against government over reach?
Only when they aren’t questioned says
Yep.. that’s only and ONLY when, it is their way. Otherwise it is wrong and a big no-no and we should all fear them.
Pogo says
@Elected floriduh Republicans
when only the worst will do:
floriduh’s Education Commissioner?!:
“…Corcoran dropped out of University of Florida.[2] He later attended St. Leo College, graduating in 1989, and Pat Robertson’s Regent University, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1996.[3] While enrolled in college, he served six years in the United States Naval Reserve (1987–1993).[4]…”
“…Corcoran was admitted to the Florida Bar on September 21, 1999, three years after completing law school…”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Corcoran
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Enough says
Here we go again! Duh Santis showing what a bully he is at the expense of children! And of course, this Corcoran is another ignorant puppet in fear for his job, so he’ll do whatever the big DUH will say! How pathetic DUH Santis is in that he has to threaten people to NOT do the right thing because he has to have his way. Yes folks, another Trump loser is here and he needs to go! Imagine what this idiot would be if he were President. We had 4 years of chaos already with Chump; we really don’t need another episode in stupidity. We’ve seen enough. Smarten up. And by the way, if parents want a say in their child’s not wearing a mask, send your kid to school with a note admonishing his rights to be treated by any health institution in the state if he gets ill. This way, people who want to do the right thing will have a clear path to be treated.
land-o-lakes says
you’re free to do whatever you want, as long as it’s what butter fingers Desanti say. This is the land of the free people! now, you’re free to do whatever you like as long as you do as I say, or, no soup for you!
the worst part is people do not see this happening. dictatorship is not freedom people, DUHsantis = DICtator
Deb says
I say see ya in court, Federal Court. The Fla Govs office could loose a lot if the courts rule in favor of the schools. It would be a tombstone on DeSantis election bid.
Ted Underhill says
Hey Ronnie, is it weird that the entire country is laughing at Florida because of you? The idea of you threatening school board officials for trying to keep children safe is epic, epically ignorant. We have a responsibility to protect our students. You are tying the hands of the people we entrust with health and safety of our children. You are condemning a percentage of children to certain death because of your narcissism and partisan politics. If you stop to think about that for a moment….it is such a moronic idea. What’s next, will you be threatening law enforcement agencies for arresting bad guys or cutting the budgets of fire departments that put out fires? I used to take offense when people say we live in Flori-duh. Lately it has been justified, sir please stop putting the duh in Flori-duh!
FlaPharmTech says
Hi Ted. Great comment. Thank you. desantis will be remembered for many, many pitiful-excuse-for-a-governor actions and inactions. His name will live in infamy in perpetuity as the killer of so many souls, including Florida’s children. I want out of Floridud so badly these days! Yesterday at work a “lovely” lady who was picking up meds for two COVID patients threatened to send the COVID positive patient to my pharmacy in-person because she was irked that the insurance she provided us was no longer in effect; we used a discount plan and the meds were not expensive. Your friendly neighborhood pharm tech here is actively seeking a non-pharmacy job. I am so weary of this epic pandemic. I am vaccinated. My 80 year old mom is vaccinated, yet I’ve returned to angst over whether I should see her given my exposure at work. My days off I’ve returned to being home bound. This could have, should have been prevented! Wake up, people. Get the vaccine and just stop endangering lives.
Frank W says
I support DeSantis in just about everything but he got this one mostly wrong. I support a parent’s freedom of choice for their children just as a support an adult’s freedom of choice. I applaud DeSantis’ stance to reject Biden’s demand and mostly politically attempt to mandate masks for school children. But DeSantis got it wrong when he threatened school with cuts to funding. That threat is on par with Biden’s threats to Florida and other states. If we Floridian’s have freedom of choice, it must come with threats.
Back off DeSantis.
trailer bob says
Ditto. Thanks for saving me the typing time.
Sigmund Kirk, Esq. says
Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is a coward! He knows that if he bucks DeSantis, he will be removed from his job. From what I have gleaned, he is not that great in the practice of law. That’s how it goes with these so-called career politicians. It would be great to have a Commissioner who had experience as an educator, knows what public education is all about, and has the tenacity to tell the Governor to butt out! Of course, this will never happen because of politics and the Rule of Law. Oops, did I say law? I meant the Rule of the “Good Ole Boys” in Tallahassee. Them der boys are focused on FSU and Florida football teams than the educational standards and safety of our public school students, faculty, and non-instructional support staff. Why every God-fearing Republican, or should I say, Trump-fearing Republican, knows that COVID 19 Delta is nothing more than a hoax. Just ask them! I don’t think that we have a majority of anal openings in our state yet. Maybe Corcoran and DeSantis need a frontal labotomy. This procedure, by the way, is the insertion of a glass stomach. Why? Because Corcoran and Desantis have their heads up their ass and need to see out!
Jay Tomm says
Wear a mask or not I don’t care. The problem here is simple. You have a government trying tell Americans how to live. THAT should be the focus. The kids are being used as pawns. It’s all political.
I can think of several “governments” in the past that dictated how people can live. America is now going this route? SAD
This county needs to get back on track & will only do so when the American people wake up