Families protest any potential mask mandates before the Hillsborough County Schools Board meeting held at the district office in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images)
Florida’s Department of Education approved an emergency order in favor of parents against mask mandates. On Friday, parents who felt COVID-19 protocols have become a harassment towards their children gained access to private school vouchers.
The vouchers, also known as the Hope Scholarship, were originally used to protect kids who have been bullied. The vouchers have the effect of law.
If school districts fail to comply, state funding to the schools could be withheld. The board asserted parents should always have the right to decide what was best for their own children.
“The Hope Scholarship is a great tool,” explained Vice Chair Ben Gibson of the Florida State Board of Education. “The parents can choose to select a different educational environment for their child and that’s a decision that the parents make based on the need of their individual child.”
Students should not be bullied because their parents exercised their rights to make decisions about their child’s education and health. Thankful the Board of Education made it clear that such harassment would make a child eligible for a Hope Scholarship. https://t.co/WBgIGWyG3b
— Casey DeSantis (@FLCaseyDeSantis) August 6, 2021
This comes as a handful of parents filed a suit in federal court on Friday, which alleged the ban on masks violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The parents argued disabled students who were a higher risk for COVID-19 would be unable to attend school with unmasked students.
Source: One America News Network
