Despite court decision, state withholds school board members’ pay from Broward
After a court ruled Friday that school districts can enforce temporary mask mandates to contain the spread of COVID -19, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced he has begun withholding money from the Broward and Alachua school districts, which went against the governor’s now-invalidated order.
In a news release issued late Monday, Corcoran said he is following through on the orders of the State Board of Education, which directed him to review options for punishing the school districts that defied an emergency rule by the Department of Health prohibiting school districts from mandating that students wear face coverings in school.
Broward and Alachua counties were the first two school districts to impose a mandatory mask requirements for students returning to school and, after aggressive questioning of the district superintendents two weeks ago, the Board of Education ordered Corcoran to pursue penalties.
“The withholding of funds will continue monthly until each school board complies with state law and rule,’’ Corcoran wrote on Monday.
But the threat has not worked to deter Broward or Alachua school boards, which argue they are upholding the Florida Constitution and its requirement to provide a safe environment for students. The school boards say they believe their mask requirements, which provide for a medical opt-out for parents who need it, are within the law.
According to the Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research, school board members in Alachua County make $40,000 per year and in Broward County, $46,000.
Nine other districts requiring masks
Since then, nine other school districts in the state’s most populous counties, including Miami-Dade and Hillsborough, have ordered students, faculty and staff to temporarily wear face coverings until community spread of the COVID-19 virus abates. Brevard County on Monday became the latest school district to impose mask requirements.
The financial penalty is the latest skirmish in a pitched legal battle between Gov. Ron DeSantis, who says he is standing by the individual rights of parents, and school district leaders who say they are protecting the collective health of school children in the face of the surging delta variant.
A group of parents, who support mask mandates, on Friday prevailed in the first round of their lawsuit against the state, but a final ruling has not been issued. Corcoran took advantage of the window to announce he was withholding school board salaries.
Broward remains defiant
Broward County Public Schools Interim Superintendent Vickie Cartwright said Monday night that the district will not waiver in its decision to continue its mask requirements for students and staff, and that the policy would be reviewed after Labor Day and modified if needed.
“Broward County Public Schools and the Broward County School Board believe we are in compliance,” Cartwright said in a statement. She said the district has been reporting to Tallahassee students “who face a consequence for not wearing a mask,” which is part of the Department of Education’s sanctions.
“The health and safety of our students, teachers and staff continue to be our main priorities,’’ Cartwright said. “As such, BCPS will continue to mandate masks, knowing the data shows they help minimize the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.”
Sarah Leonardi, who represents District 3 on the Broward County School Board, blasted Corcoran’s decision and said her responsibility is to uphold the Florida Constitution, and not necessarily obey commands from Tallahassee.
“Perhaps Commissioner Corcoran should re-read the Florida Constitution, because I swore an oath to provide a ‘safe, secure and high quality system of free public schools’ under Article IX, Section 1, Paragraph (a),” Leonardi said in a text message to the Miami Herald on Monday night, quoting part of the state Constitution.
In a verbal ruling from the bench on Friday, Judge John C. Cooper concluded that the governor and his legal team failed to properly read the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which they used as the foundation for their argument that parents, not schools, should decide whether children must wear facial coverings.
The judge said they overlooked a critical paragraph in the law that was signed this year — a provision that allows school districts to make an exception to parental rights when a requirement “is reasonable and necessary to achieve a compelling state interest.”
The governor’s office immediately denounced the ruling as the work of “incoherent justifications,” and said it would appeal the lawsuit to the appellate court where DeSantis predicted Monday he would prevail.
In his statement, Corcoran made no mention of the judge’s ruling and instead cited the same law that Cooper said the state had failed to properly apply.
“We’re going to fight to protect parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children,’’ Corcoran wrote. “They know what is best for their children. What’s unacceptable is the politicians who have raised their right hands and pledged, under oath, to uphold the Constitution but are not doing so. Simply said, elected officials cannot pick and choose what laws they want to follow.”
Could Corcoran be in contempt of court?
Charles Gallagher, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, called Corcoran’s decision to order the penalties in the face of the judge’s ruling a breach of legal ethics that could draw a contempt of court charge from the court. Corcoran, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, is a lawyer and member of the Florida Bar.
“I don’t know how he could maintain a straight face that he was allowed to enforce this order,’’ Gallagher said. “That was clear and certain from the hearing.”
Gallagher said he will also file a motion for contempt against Corcoran if, when the judge enters his ruling, the department does not withdraw the enforcement action.
On Friday, Cooper set in motion a strict timeline to complete the final order. He asked the plaintiffs’ lawyers to work all weekend and put into writing his verbal ruling that lasted more than two and a half hours on Friday.
Gallagher said his team worked through the weekend, but their efforts were delayed somewhat because they did not receive the transcript of the three-day hearing from the court reporter until late Sunday. To accommodate the lengthy decision by Cooper, the lawyers prepared a short-form draft ruling and a long-form draft ruling, and will submit both to Cooper and the state’s lawyers Monday night.
He said he expects the judge to allow the state’s attorneys to respond and, once he signs the order, it will become final.. At that point, the state is expected to appeal the ruling in the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.
“The second that’s entered, I think you’ll probably see the state file an appeal within minutes of that,’’ Gallagher said, asking the First District Court of Appeal to stay the ruling. Gallagher said the plaintiffs will then file a petition to vacate the stay and a decision on that could be made with or without a hearing.
Also Monday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced investigations into five states — Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah — for violating the rights of children with disabilities by prohibiting universal indoor masking of students in schools.
The department said it did not launch reviews in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, or Arizona “because those states’ bans on universal indoor masking are not currently being enforced as a result of court orders or other state actions.”
The department, however, said it will continue to monitor Florida and is “prepared to take action” if state leaders refuse to allow universal mask mandates or if the court rulings are overturned. It is unknown whether Corcoran’s decision to withhold money from school districts will be deemed an enforcement action.
On Friday, the Miami-Dade County School Board asked the state’s Third District Court of Appeal to review an issue that the Leon County case did not touch — the validity of the Aug. 6 Department of Health emergency rule that requires schools to include an opt-out clause in any mask rules they adopt.
Tampa Bay Times staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek and reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 8:49 PM.
