A Florida school district began collecting federal funding on Thursday after Florida’s government withheld state funding to punish the school for implementing a mask mandate and other precautions aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19.
Alachua County Public Schools, the first district in the country to receive federal funds, is getting $147,719 to compensate school board members whose salaries are being withheld by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor is withholding money from members of the board who voted for the mask mandate, which DeSantis banned via an executive order this summer.
The federal funding comes from a Biden administration anti-Covid grant program that’s funded by legislation Congress passed this spring.
“We should be thanking districts for using proven strategies that will keep schools open and safe, not punishing them,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement, adding, “Every student across the country deserves the opportunity to return to school in person safely this fall, and every family should be confident that their school is implementing policies that keep their children safe.”