Cruise lines, schools and businesses in Florida have been Gov. Ron DeSantis' political pawns in his offensive against public health measures to contain the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.
And, at least some of them have said: "Enough!" Many more should join them. On Tuesday, the Broward County School Board defied DeSantis and voted 8-1 to keep its mask mandate for students, staff and visitors in the 2021-22 school year, risking financial penalties and the salaries of its members and superintendent, which the bullying governor has threatened to withhold. The board also authorized the district to evaluate and legally challenge the state Department of Health's new rules, which say districts must allow parents to opt out of mandates.
In doing so, the school board went against its own legal counsel's advice that it comply with DeSantis' executive order and the DOH rules, which have the same effect as laws, the Sun Sentinel reported. Will Miami-Dade County Public Schools do the same?
The state's largest district has the advantage of school starting on Aug. 23, later than Broward and other districts. That gives Superintendent Alberto Carvalho time to look at the political landscape and make the calculus: Whom would he rather follow? The whims of vengeful governor or the guidance of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others who call for universal masking at schools?
A medical task force that advises Miami-Dade Schools will meet next week before the School Board votes on the issue of masks. We find it unlikely that task force members will land on anything other than the efficacy of masks in preventing the virus' spread. One of them, infectious-disease expert Dr. Aileen Marty, from Florida International University, told the Miami Herald Editorial Board last week that masks protect children and adults at schools.
Assuming our prediction is correct, how could the School Board then go against medical guidance, especially when Carvalho vowed to follow the Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC? That's what he told the Miami Herald Editorial Board two weeks ago, before DeSantis issued an executive order that allowed the state to withhold funds from districts that don't comply with state rules on masks.
Now Carvalho must also weigh in the ramifications of going against a powerful governor with backing from Republicans who control the state Legislature and school funding. A decision to defy DeSantis could be dangerous — as is allowing children to return to school unmasked. But what should school districts do when a governor, bound by ideology and his own political aspirations, issues edicts that are so reckless with the lives of children, teachers and staff — and the rest of us?
This new phase of the pandemic is driven by a virus so contagious that even vaccinated people can transmit it. DeSantis' determination to win a political battle of his own making shows he is willing to kick the fiscal legs out from under school districts that are already underfunded.
