The Florida Board of Education has authorized the state’s education commissioner to sanction the board members of eight school districts that have continued to require masks for students in defiance of state rules.
In the latest development in the state’s battle over mask mandates, board members in Florida’s largest districts — Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward — as well as Alachua, Brevard, Duval, Leon and Orange will have their salaries withheld following Thursday’s vote, officials said.
“For nearly two months now, these school districts have barred from the school house doors thousands of children, many of whom have significant disabilities or health-related reasons that prevent them from learning with a face mask on,” Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a statement.
Corcoran also slammed the Broward and Alachua districts, which were previously sanctioned in August and September, for accepting funds from the Biden administration to make up for lost paychecks, calling it “political bailouts from federal co-conspirators.”
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
