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 A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is asking whether the
Illinois State Board of Education had the authority to put four public schools
on probation and strip nine private schools of state recognition over their
refusal to follow the statewide school mask mandate.
Ten of the 12 members who make up the Illinois General Assembly’s Joint
Committee on Administrative Rules voted in favor of a resolution that requested
ISBE to clarify the process for revoking school recognition. The resolution also
sought to distinguish between “rules” and “guidance” issued by the ISBE.
Committee Co-chairman, state Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, said while the
committee has oversight for state agency rules, “There is no such oversight
process for guidance. So how is the public protected from government overreach
if we’re all to live by guidance alone and not by rule?”
Deputy legal officer for the ISBE, Kristen Kennedy, said the board didn’t intend
to file any rules, suggesting existing state law and administrative rules exist
that enabled ISBE to punish schools, public or private, for noncompliance with
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide school mask mandate.
State Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said, “You should have due process in
place for all schools, all parents who are invested in these schools whether
public or private and most importantly for the children that attend.” Curran
questioned the state’s inconsistent treatment of noncompliant public and private
schools.
On Aug. 4, Pritzker announced all students in Illinois would be required to wear
masks in the classroom to slow the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant. At one
point 58 school districts were being threatened with discipline over refusing to
implement mask mandates. Only 11 schools continued to decline to comply with the
mandate.
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Revoking school recognition means the schools
cannot compete in state sports competitions, high school diplomas
may not be recognized and private schools cannot participate in the
Tax Credit Scholarship plan that allows low-income families to send
their children to private schools.
Pritzker defended statewide mandatory masking in schools.
“Until they [COVID-19 cases] start to come down on the other side of
this, we can’t lighten up our mitigations,” Pritzker said Sept. 14.
Just weeks before issuing the statewide mandate, Pritzker had said
mask policies should be left to local school and public health
leaders.
“Families should be involved in making decisions for their own
families. And, school districts and school boards will make
decisions for the schools within their districts,” Pritzker said
July 17.
But that was before so many school districts were exercising their
freedom to choose and making what Pritzker considered to be the
wrong decision.
“Far too few school districts have chosen to follow the federal
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescription for keeping
students and staff safe,” Pritzker said when he issued the statewide
mask mandate. “Given the CDC’s strong recommendation, I had hoped
that a state mask requirement in schools wouldn’t be necessary, but
it is.”
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