A Florida judge has once again overruled Gov. Ron DeSantis's executive order banning school mask mandates, in the last chapter of the war over mask mandates between DeSantis and school districts in the state.
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled in favor of school districts who defied DeSantis's order and kept enforcing the use of masks in the classrooms, despite DeSantis's threats to withhold funding.
Cooper had previously ruled against DeSantis's order on August 27, but the governor appealed the decision, which allowed the ban to remain enforceable until today.
The latest ruling, which lifts the ban immediately, allows school to enforce masks following CDC guidelines.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (pictured today) overstepped his authority by banning mask mandates in schools, a judge has ruled
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruling lifts the ban on school mask mandates
DeSantis's legal battle with the state's school districts has triggered confrontations between pro-mask school workers and parents as well as students who are opposed to masks.
On July 30, DeSantis issued an executive order forcing the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Department of Health to allow parents to opt out their children from wearing masks at school, even as COVID-19 infections in the state jumped 50% in that week.
Thirteen Florida school districts, representing more than half of the state's 2.8 million public school students, kept their mask mandate.
In retaliation, DeSantis stripped funds equal to monthly school board members' salaries in Alachua and Broward counties.
Three teachers from Broward County School District died from COVID-19, just as Broward County's School Board voted to defy Gov Ron DeSantis' order to drop the mask mandate.
Cooper's ruling will return the funds to those school districts.
Masked children this month at Baldwin Park Elementary School in Orlando
School children wearing face masks arrive on the first day of classes at Baldwin Park Elementary School in Orlando
Cooper said that face mask mandates that follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are 'reasonable and consistent with the best scientific and medical opinion in this country' and that DeSantis violated the law when it banned school districts from requiring masks.
The Judge said DeSantis didn't have the legal authority to ban mask mandates and his order was unconstitutional and could not be enforced.
'It's undisputed that in Florida we are in the midst of a COVID pandemic.
'Based on the evidence I've heard, there's no harm to the state if the stay is set aside,' Cooper said.
DeSantis said that the state had to protect 'parents freedom to choose.'
The order noted that 'children are at 'low risk of contracting a serious illness due to COVID-19' and said that 'forcing' children to wear masks could 'inhibit breathing, and adversely affect communications in the classroom and student performance,' among other things.
DeSantis has described CDC recommendations to wear face masks as 'the most significant threat to freedom in my lifetime,' and even accused the health agencies of 'medical authoritarianism.'
He argued that all 'all parents have the right to make healthcare decisions for their minor children,' - such as whether to mask them up.
'I have (three) young kids. My wife and I are not going to do the masks with the kids; we never have,' DeSantis shared. 'I want to see my kids smiling. I want them having fun.'
The governor's executive order also said that 'there is no statistically significant evidence to suggest that counties with mask requirements have feared any better than those without.'
DeSantis was cheered by supporters as he made the pronouncement, and also welcomed parents who are against masks to address the crowd.
'I think that this decision
