On Friday, an appeals court in Florida ruled in favor of Governor Ron DeSantis, reinstating his ban on mask mandates in public schools.
In July, DeSantis issued an executive order barring school mask mandates. Health officials and schools have spent the past few months fighting the ban and many schools defied DeSantis’s decision.
Florida’s 2nd Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled on August 27 that the state doesn’t have the authority to ban mandates.
Earlier this week, the state Department of Education withheld funding from two of the school districts that defied the governor’s ban.
The DeSantis administration filed a motion asking an appeals court to reinstate his order to ban mandates. The 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee granted the stay.
Last week DeSantis told reporters, “It’ll be appealed. We’ll end up getting it back”. “At the end of the day, ultimately, we’re just trying to stand with the parents”, he added.