Florida’s DeSantis has become the most vociferous opponent to masking at the state level, even as the state he governs continues to be the epicenter of the latest coronavirus surge. He has continued to insist that mask mandates not be imposed on Florida schools, telling school superintendents on Monday thatThe White House is looking to vitiate that threat by using funds from last winter’s coronavirus relief package to pay educators penalized for mask mandates.
But asked later about offering such assistance, Biden expressed hesitation about how, and to what degree, the federal government could support school districts resisting DeSantis.A White House official would only say that the Biden administration was exploring options about how funds from the coronavirus relief package could be potentially used to bolster school districts or individuals deprived of funding for imposing mask mandates, but declined to provide specifics.
DeSantis’s communications director Taryn Fenske said it was “surprising that the White House would rather spend money for the salaries of bureaucratic 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.”
Many parents, educators and students had hoped to begin this year without masks, but the Delta variant. Yet masks also offer the best option for safe in-person teaching, according to medical experts.