A federal judge rules against Texas' ban on mask mandates in schools. This means Texas public schools will be allowed to require face masks and it moots governor Abbott's GA-38 order, signed July 29th, which states no governmental entity, including public schools, can force anyone to wear a mask.
The case before US District Judge Lee Yeakel was brought by Disability Rights Texas. Their attorneys claimed the governor's order put disabled students at a very high risk of a bad outcome from Covid-19.
Disability Right Texas attorney Kim Rogers says "the ban clearly violates federal law. It was prohibiting school districts from providing accommodations to students with disabilities."
She says she's "thrilled that Judge Yeakel agreed with us agreed with us and confirmed the executive order does violate federal law and Texas is not above that law. State officials cannot prevent school districts from providing accommodations to students who are especially vulnerable to the risks of Covid."
Now it is up to individual school districts to decide whether to implement mask mandates.
She say 15 school districts, which had mask mandates, were sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Their funding was also threatened.
"We're a big state and the student populations are different in each district, and the districts need to be able to address that."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted "I strongly disagree with Judge Yeakel's opinion barring my office from giving effect to GA-38, which prohibits mask mandates imposed by government entities like school districts. My Agency is considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision."
There are over 1000 school districts in Texas. This action will affect Texas' roughly five million student population. It could also affect similar lawsuits in other states.
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