Education Department repays Florida school board members whose salaries were withheld for enforcing

[LetMyPeopleVote]

DeathSantis will be pissed

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The Department of Education on Thursday repaid a group of Florida school board members whose salaries were withheld for implementing mask mandates in defiance of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' executive order that parents, not school officials, must decide how to protect their children in the pandemic.

The Alachua County School Board, one of the school districts with mask requirements, was awarded $147,719 in grants under the Project to Support America's Families and Educators (Project SAFE) grant program, the Education Department announced. The school board is the first to receive the award under the program that was created to help school districts facing financial penalties by implementing "strategies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance" such as masking, according to the department.

"We should be thanking districts for using proven strategies that will keep schools open and safe, not punishing them. We stand with the dedicated educators in Alachua and across the country doing the right thing to protect their school communities," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement issued Thursday. "With these grants, we're making sure schools and communities across the country that are committed to safely returning to in-person learning know that we have their backs. I commend Alachua for protecting its students and educators, and I look forward to working with them to provide students their best year yet."

Dr. Carlee Simon, superintendent for Alachua County Public Schools, thanked Cardona and President Joe Biden on Thursday.

[cadoman]

1. sorry, I still haven't come to grips with the idea that school board members are paid...

Everywhere I've lived it's volunteer work by parents who care and have kids at the school.

[Hortensis]

2. Great! Prompt action too. nt

[Phoenix61]

3. The salaries were not withheld, the school district funding was.

It’s illegal to withhold anyone’s salary. The idea was to make the county’s parents angry that the school board members were causing funding to be cut. DeSatan hoped this would result in them being voted down out. He’s like a teenage trying to outsmart his parents.