School, daycare mask mandates found deficient by KY lawmakers but remain in effect

Members of a Kentucky legislative panel on Tuesday rejected emergency regulations put forth by the Beshear Administration that require most people in public schools and daycare centers to wear masks to protect against COVID-19.

The lawmakers’ move does not strike down the regulations but merely sends them back to Gov. Andy Beshear to withdraw them, amend them or leave them the same. The General Assembly also could take the committee’s deficient finding into consideration and pass legislation in 2022 that would find the emergency regulations null and void.

After the meeting, Beshear sent letters to the Legislative Research Commission saying the regulations will stay in effect.

Earlier in August, Beshear issued an executive order mandating masks inside Kentucky schools and daycare centers, which Attorney General Daniel Cameron has asked the Kentucky Supreme Court to reject. Later, the Kentucky Board of Education and the Department for Public Health issued their own emergency regulations that would require children over the age of two to wear a mask or other face-covering in K-12 public schools and regulated child care facilities. On Tuesday, members of the Kentucky General Assembly’s Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee found those regulations deficient with a 5-2 vote.

The emergency regulation for K-12 schools mandates face-coverings for up to 270 days, essentially through May of 2022, though it could be lifted before that time.

The subcommittee heard testimony from people on both sides of the issue.

Kentucky Commissioner Of Education Jason Glass and Kentucky Board of Education Chairwoman Lu Young told lawmakers that the mask mandate is essential if schools hope to continue in-person learning this school year.

Pragya Upreti, a senior at Lafayette High School in Lexington and a co-leader of the Kentucky Student Voice Team, told lawmakers, “I implore you to uphold the mask mandate in our schools.”

Rebecca Blankenship of Berea, told lawmakers if they can’t uphold the mandate they should make a list of people they are OK with dying.

Several others spoke against the mandates, falsely claiming that masks do not protect people from COVID-19.

Terri Conen, a McClean County mother, said she didn’t want her children to wear masks at school. She said to impose the same regulations on a small town with a low number of cases as a large city with a higher number of cases was “ill-considered.”

The rate of COVID-19 transmission in McLean County is currently 71.4 cases per 100,000 people, which far surpasses the rate of 43.9 in Lexington and 42.9 in Louisville.

Dawne Perkins of Lexington, who founded a movement advocating for kids to play sports at school despite COVID and to attend in-person classes, said a blanket approach to mitigating a virus with a mask was not in the best interest of kids.

Glass rebutted the notion that masks are endangering the health of children, a claim that has been soundly rejected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“No one wants to wear a mask any longer than we have to,” Glass said, but he said the benefits outweigh the risks.

State Sen. Steve West, R-Paris, co-chair of the committee, said Beshear’s mask mandate for schools will also have to be accompanied by an emergency regulation or it will be null and void.

West complained that the mask mandates have no due process provisions to protect those who don’t comply with them. He also noted that there are no clear penalties for school leaders and child care providers who do not comply. He said enforcement could be applied arbitrarily.

Glass said if students don’t adhere to the mask mandate they could be subject to disciplinary action. Educators who don’t follow the mandate could lose their state licenses. Superintendents and school board members could be removed. School districts could lose funding. There could also be liability issues for school districts, Glass said.

State Sen. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, a physician, said COVID is here to stay. He indicated the state education board was not listening to school officials who want local control. He said bureaucrats who aren’t elected officials should not be making sweeping mask mandate decisions. He also clarified that he is not against masks or vaccinations.

Glass and Young said Tuesday they would not withdraw the emergency regulations.

In another action against mask mandates, state Rep. Lynn Bechler, R-Marion, pre- filed a bill Monday for the 2022 General Assembly that would stop public schools and universities from requiring masks in classrooms, on buses or at school-sponsored events.

Bill Request 359 also protects child care centers from penalties if they refuse to require masks.

This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 3:57 PM.