A Florida judge rejected another challenge to the state’s ban on mask mandates.
Administrative Law Judge Brian Newman rejected a legal effort by school boards in Alachua, Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Leon counties to overturn Gov. Ron DeSantis’s order prohibiting mask mandates in public schools.
The counties “failed to prove that the emergency rule opt-out provisions facilitate the spread of COVID-19 in schools,” Newman said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
“On the contrary, the evidence admitted in this case established that the emergency rule opt-out provisions strike the right balance by ensuring that the protocols that govern the control of COVID-19 in schools go no further than what is required to keep children safe and in school,” Newman wrote.
The school boards that filed the challenge are facing financial penalties for forcing children to wear masks in schools in spite of DeSantis’s order. They plan to appeal Newman’s ruling, according to the Associated Press.
This is not the first time the courts have upheld DeSantis’s mask mandate ban. In September, the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee also ruled in favor of the ban, arguing those who wanted to get rid of it failed to make a “compelling” case.
“When a public officer or agency seeks appellate review, which is the case here, there is a presumption under the rule in favor of a stay, and the stay should be vacated only for the most compelling of reasons,” the court said.
DeSantis celebrated the ruling, saying he wasn’t surprised by it at all:
No surprise here – the 1st DCA has restored the right of parents to make the best decisions for their children.
I will continue to fight for parents’ rights.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 10, 2021
