SOUTH CAROLINA SAYS IT WILL FOLLOW JUDGE’S ORDER BLOCKING MASK MANDATE BAN

The South Carolina Department of Education on Wednesday said that it will follow a federal judge’s recent order blocking the state’s ban on school mask mandates, informing school districts that they “now have the discretionary authority to require masks.”

The state’s education superintendent, Molly Spearman (R), informed local school district leaders across South Carolina that U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis on Tuesday approved a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction prohibiting the enforcement of the statewide mask mandate ban.

The measure, known as Proviso 1.108, had been written into the state’s budget and effectively put school districts that imposed mask mandates at risk of losing state funding.

Despite a statement from Gov. Henry McMaster’s (R) office shortly after the decision saying that he planned to challenge the ruling, Spearman wrote Wednesday that the “immediate effect of the Court’s order is that both the state and local school districts are prohibited from enforcing Proviso 1.108 and school districts now have the discretionary authority to require masks.”

However, the superintendent noted that the state education department “will continue to monitor further action taken by the judicial system that may alter the aforementioned guidance and correspond with schools and districts accordingly.”