Joe Biden Gives Money To School Board Members After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Cuts Funding Over Mask Mandate

President Joe Biden‘s administration gave some Florida school board members money after Gov. Ron DeSantis took away funding because some schools ignored his ban on mask mandates.

This past summer, Alachua County school board members voted to implement a mask mandate despite DeSantis threatening to cut funding from schools that put a mask mandate in place. Their decision came after the state’s number of COVID-19 cases reached dramatic heights, and this was the board’s attempt to curve the spread of the virus. But, their vote for a mask mandate ended with DeSantis docking board members’ pay.

However, NBC News reports that the Biden administration just donated $148,000 to the board members as part of its Project SAFE grant program.

In a statement, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said schools don’t need to worry about DeSantis and his threats, especially when creating safe environments for students and staff members.

“We should be thanking districts for using proven strategies that will keep schools open and safe,” Cardona said in his statement, adding that his agency has schools’ “backs.”

The executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, Daniel Domenech, said in a statement: “Students deserve the opportunity to return to school in person safely this fall, and our nation’s superintendents must have not only the authority to make the decisions about what that reopening looks like but also freedom from unnecessarily political and punitive retaliation from their state leaders.”