Gov. DeSantis: 'There will be consequences' for school districts that require mask mandates

A lawsuit filed by several Tampa Bay-area attorneys and parents against Gov. Ron DeSantis' school mask mandate ban appeared before a judge Monday morning. After Florida Judge John Cooper denied the state's motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Friday, the three-day hearing began with both sides arguing their case virtually. During opening statements, the state said its experts concluded "there is no scientific or medical reason to require masking in school children" and "considerable evidence that requiring children to wear masks all day in school correlates with harms to their learning and development, both physically and psychologically." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal indoor masking by all students, staff, teachers and visitors regardless of vaccination status. DeSantis has been firm in giving parents the freedom on whether to send their children back to school in a mask and his executive order supports that. The potential consequence of violating that order is the loss of funds equivalent to each respective school district's superintendent's salary. So far, school distircts in several counties, including Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota, have defied the governor's mask mandate ban by requiring a doctor's note for students choosing to opt-out. "We are confident in the legal basis for protecting parents’ freedom to choose whether their own children wear masks or not," the governor's office told 10 Tampa Bay early on in the legal process. https://bit.ly/387l8Ow