Five statewide bans on school mask mandates under federal investigation

The Department of Education announced on Monday that it has opened civil rights investigations into five statewide bans on mask mandates to determine whether they discriminate against students with disabilities.

School officials in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah received letters from the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that detailed how bans on universal mask requirements could prevent schools from implementing policies that protect students from COVID-19, particularly those with underlying medical conditions “related to their disability.”

The probes will examine whether the bans violate parts of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act that forbid discrimination based on a person’s disabilities and that give all students the right to free public schooling. The OCR said it will collect data from the five education departments “over the coming weeks.”

What they’re saying: “It’s simply unacceptable that state leaders are putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve,” Education Secretary Cardona said in a statement.

But: The department did not launch investigations into every state with a ban on school mask requirements, as  Arizona, Arkansas, Florida and Texas are not yet enforcing their policies due to court battles or “other state actions.”

“However, the Department will continue to closely monitor those states and is prepared to take action if state leaders prevent local schools or districts from implementing universal indoor masking or if the current court decisions were to be reversed,” the office said in a release.