After the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) proposed ramping up punishment for school boards enforcing mask mandates, the Biden administration warned them on Monday to “reconsider” their “threatened actions.”
On October 7th, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced his proposal to prevent school boards from receiving federal funding from the Project to Support America’s Families and Educators grant program. The program, known as “Project SAFE”, provides funding to school districts that are financially penalized for implementing CDC guidelines such as mask mandates.
As reported by The Florida Capital Star, Corcoran noted, “I strongly believe that this federal grant program improperly attempts to interfere with the state board’s authority to manage our state’s educational system. Education is a state responsibility, not a federal one, and one given to this board under our state’s Constitution.”
Also in The Capital Star report, he added that Project SAFE was a way to “buy off school districts” in order to “neutralize and abolish” the Board of Education’s authority.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Education Ian Rosenblum sent a letter to Corcoran addressing his proposal.
The letter stated:
“It has come to our attention that the Florida Department of Education has recommended, and the Florida State Board of Education (FSBE) has ordered, through Orders DOE 2021-4027 and DOE 2021-4029, … a reduction in state aid to the School Board of Broward County and the School Board of Alachua County by the amount of each district’s federal Project SAFE grant award. The FSBE ordered this reduction in direct response to the federal support provided by Project SAFE.”
Additionally, it states, “Should the FLDOE implement these orders, it would be failing to comply with federal requirements, in particular, section 8522 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. … The USDOE (Department) expects the FLDOE to comply with all requirements applicable to its federal grant awards.”
The letter then states that if the FLDOE continues with its planned reduction of state aid to Alachua and Broward counties, the USDOE is, “prepared to initiate enforcement action to stop these impermissible state actions…..We hope that you reconsider your threatened actions against these districts in response to the Project SAFE awards, so that they may continue to take steps to help ensure safe and healthy environments for their students, families, and educators.”
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
