Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis defies court order and withholds funds from school districts that make kids wear masks - as hundreds of parents line up at chiropractor to pick up exemption forms

  • DeSantis' administration on Monday said it withheld funds from two districts
  • Alachua and Broward County imposed mask mandates for school students
  • Now state is withholding the amount of the salaries for school board members
  • It is despite a court ruling finding DeSantis' mask mandate ban unconstitutional
  • DeSantis vows to appeal the ruling and says he is confident it will be tossed out
  • Meanwhile parents in Venice are getting mask exemptions from a chiropractor  

The war over mask mandates is intensifying in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis' administration is stripping funds from school districts that require face coverings for students, and parents are lining up to get pre-signed exemption forms from a chiropractor.

On Monday the Florida Department of Education said it had withheld an amount equal to monthly school board member salaries in Alachua and Broward counties, as directed by the State Board of Education. 

Funds will continue to be withheld until the districts comply, Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said.

The astonishing move came even after a Florida state judge ruled on Friday that the state had no authority to enforce DeSantis' order banning mask mandates in classrooms, and barring his administration from withholding funds over the issue. 

DeSantis has vowed to appeal the ruling and predicted that it would be overturned.

Governor Ron DeSantis' administration is stripping funds from school districts that require face coverings for students in defiance of a court order

Governor Ron DeSantis' administration is stripping funds from school districts that require face coverings for students in defiance of a court order

A protester holds a placard outside an emergency mask mandate meeting of the Brevard County, Florida School Board in Viera on Monday

A protester holds a placard outside an emergency mask mandate meeting of the Brevard County, Florida School Board in Viera on Monday

A masked student raises his hand in class at iPrep Academy on the first day of school in Miami last week. A judge has ruled that Florida school districts may impose mask mandates

A masked student raises his hand in class at iPrep Academy on the first day of school in Miami last week. A judge has ruled that Florida school districts may impose mask mandates

Meanwhile, in Sarasota County, where another school mask mandate went into effect on Monday, hundreds of parents were seen lining up at a chiropractor to collect medical exemption forms for their children.

'We were in and out, came in, signed a clipboard and handed a sheet,' parent Paulina Testerman told WJBF-TV of the scene at Twin Palms Chiropractic. 

'Nobody asked to see our children. The forms were pre-signed, there was a stack behind the counter and they were just passed out.' 

Chiropractor Dan Busch spoke with the ABC affiliate outside his attorney's office, saying that he had only provided exemptions to students and parents he met with personally.

'This is not a political thing. I am not an anti-mask person or an anti-vax person, but I am a pro-freedom, pro-choice person,' said Busch.

Busch said that any 'licensed health care physician' is qualified to provide medical exemptions, including chiropractors.

Your dentist could do this, your psychiatrist could do this, your psychologist can do this,' he said. 'You were looking at things like respiratory distress, hypoxia, asthma, anxiety, depression – there are a lot of qualifying conditions.' 

In Sarasota County, where another school mask mandate went into effect on Monday, hundreds of parents were seen lining up to collect medical exemption forms for their kids

In Sarasota County, where another school mask mandate went into effect on Monday, hundreds of parents were seen lining up to collect medical exemption forms for their kids

An anti-mask protester in Florida is seen at a Brevard county school board meeting on Monday

An anti-mask protester in Florida is seen at a Brevard county school board meeting on Monday

Florida is one of several states where Republican governors have sought to prevent local governments and school districts from mandating masks. 

These governors have said that such rules infringe on personal liberty. Proponents of mask mandates argue the rules are necessary to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, as cases rise particularly in areas with lower vaccination rates, driven by the highly infectious coronavirus Delta variant. 

The U.S. Department of Education on Monday opened civil rights investigations into mask mandate bans in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

The Education Department left mask mandate bans in Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Arizona out of its inquiry because court orders or other actions have paused their enforcement. 

But despite the court order in Florida, DeSantis is pushing forward with his threat to strip funding from Alachua and Broward counties.  

Broward County Interim Superintendent Vickie Cartwright said in a statement that Broward County School Board believes they are in compliance with the law.

'The health and safety of our students, teachers and staff continue to be our main priorities,' Cartwright said. 'As such, BCPS (Broward County Public Schools) will continue to mandate masks, knowing the data shows they help minimize the spread of COVID-19 in our schools.'

Alachua County Superintendent Carlee Simon said in a statement: 'I'm very troubled by the state's action.' 

'Our School Board members made a courageous decision to protect the health and lives of students, staff and the people of this community, and a court has already ruled they had the legal right to do so,' she said.

Florida is one of several states where Republican governors have sought to prevent local governments and school districts from mandating masks

Florida is one of several states where Republican governors have sought to prevent local governments and school districts from mandating masks

DeSantis' order has sparked heated debate and a rebellion from some school districts that argue the rules are necessary to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic

DeSantis' order has sparked heated debate and a rebellion from some school districts that argue the rules are necessary to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic

Simon said the district was working with other jurisdictions to legally challenge DeSantis.

DeSantis, a Republican who is eyeing a possible presidential run in 2024, had been threatening to impose financial penalties on school boards for weeks. 

Democratic President Joe Biden has said if that happened, federal money would be used to cover any costs.

Corcoran (above) said districts are violating parental rights by not allowing a parent or legal guardian to opt-out their child

Corcoran (above) said districts are violating parental rights by not allowing a parent or legal guardian to opt-out their child

School districts in Alachua and Broward counties were the first of 10 to require all students to wear masks unless they had a medical exemption in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 

Those districts, which include cities like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, represent slightly more than half of the 2.8 million Florida public school students enrolled this year.

Corcoran said those districts are violating parental rights by not allowing a parent or legal guardian to opt-out their child, as required by a Florida Department of Health emergency rule.

'We´re going to fight to protect parent´s rights to make health care decisions for their children,' Corcoran said in a statement. 'They know what is best for their children.'

Corcoran said elected officials, like the school board members, cannot pick and choose what laws they want to follow. He said the board members pledged to uphold the Constitution but were not doing so.

A boy rides a bicycle past a sign at Pershing School in Orlando advising that face masks are required for students through October 30, 2021

A boy rides a bicycle past a sign at Pershing School in Orlando advising that face masks are required for students through October 30, 2021

Meanwhile, a Tallahassee circuit judge on Friday agreed with a group of parents who argued in a lawsuit that DeSantis´ ban on mask mandates is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. 

Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper said an executive order issued by DeSantis that served as the basis for the health department's emergency rule is without legal authority.

Cooper said his ruling wouldn't go into effect until it is put into writing, which he asked the parents´ lawyers to complete by Monday. 

Craig Whisenhunt, one of the attorneys representing the parents, said they complied and expect the ruling to take effect this week.

The governor's office has said that Cooper´s decision wasn´t based on the law, and the state will appeal it.

The highly contagious Delta variant led to an acceleration in cases around Florida and record-high hospitalizations just as schools prepared to reopen classrooms. 

By mid-August, more than 21,000 new cases were being added per day, compared with about 8,500 a month earlier. 

Over the past week, new cases and hospitalizations have leveled off. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services tallied 15,488 patients with COVID-19 in Florida hospitals, an 8 percent decrease over the past week. 

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