COVID-19 and school

The board adopted an emergency rule in August that said students under a quarantine directive can be deemed in attendance.

Despite the pandemic, universities in Florida have seen their applicant pools on the rise.

The measure is a response to local government efforts to side-step state law.

The Florida School Board Association says a letter from its national affiliate letter to the U.S. Department of Justice is the cause.

The bill, filed by Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, would put the prohibition on school mask requirements into state law.

Tensions have run high at school board meetings around the nation in recent months.

Attorneys for the Department of Health said in a motion posted Monday that the school boards in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Duval, Alachua and Leon counties do not have legal standing to challenge the rule.

The state keeps coming after school districts over mask mandates. School districts are going after the state in court. Plus, redrawing political districts across the state.

They are seeking an injunction against the executive order while an appeal of a lower-court ruling moves forward.

One superintendent asks the Board of Education to take his pay, too, but was refused. Others argued their strict mandates were needed to protect students.

Hillsborough and Sarasota are among three school districts that avoided being punished by recently changing their mask policies.

Florida is the last state to submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education that's required before more than $2.3 billion in federal aid for Florida schools can be released.