The Education Department on Monday opened civil rights investigations into five Republican-led states that have banned or limited mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced their investigations in letters addressed to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah, reports the Associated Press.
The five states, between them, have issued varying prohibitions on mask requirements, which the Civil Rights office says could prevent some students from safely attending school.
In a statement, according to ABC News, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona accused states of “putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve,” adding, “The department will fight to protect every student’s right to access in-person learning safely.”
With hospitalizations and deaths due to a surge in the Delta variant of COVID-19 rising in many states across the country, the Education Department’s move indicates a sharp escalation in the Biden administration’s battle with Republican states that say mask-wearing should be a personal choice.
According to Market Watch, President Joe Biden last week asked Cardona to explore possible legal action, prompting the department to examine whether the policies could amount to civil rights violations.
The states under investigation have a range of policies, from a state law in Iowa that forbids school boards from mandating mask-wearing, to Tennessee, where school mask mandates are permitted, yet Governor Bill Lee signed an executive order that allows families to opt-out of them.
It appears that the various state school policies may conflict with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC is recommending universal mask wearing for students and teachers in the classroom due to the surge in coronavirus cases.
The federal law protecting students with disabilities
The whole point of the investigation is to see if any of the states are in violation of a federal law protecting students with disabilities (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973).
Under that law, a school district must provide a “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district’s jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability.
And if a state law outlaws mask mandates, this could be preventing schools from taking necessary steps to protect students with disabilities or medical conditions, the department said.
In the letter sent to the states, the Education Department said it is concerned that states “may be preventing schools from making individualized assessments about mask use so that students with disabilities can attend school and participate in school activities in person.”
Bottom line? If the agency concludes that states violated civil rights laws, it could issue sanctions as severe as a loss of federal education funding.
