Florida Schools Back Away From Mask Mandate After DeSantis Order

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s move to bar school mask mandates is already pressuring schools into backing away from the facial coverings, even as the state reports a record number of people hospitalized with Covid-19.

Less than a week after the Republican governor threatened to withhold state funding to school districts that require masks, two schools are backing down on such mandates. Broward County Public Schools reversed its masking rule, which the school board mandated just a week prior, in an effort to comply with the governor’s executive order that schools should leave masking decisions to parents, according to a statement Monday. Gadsden County School District had also planned a mask requirement for the coming year, but has reversed the order, according to WTVT in Florida.