Bill ditching KY school mask mandate approved by House committee on the second try

It took two attempts, but the House Education Committee on Wednesday passed a bill that would eliminate the state’s mask mandate in K-12 schools and specifies when districts could close to in-person learning.

The House Education Committee first met at noon Wednesday, when House Bill 1 failed because it only got 11 of the 12 yes votes it needed to win approval in the committee of 22. There were seven no votes and three pass votes.

Later, a second meeting of the House Education Committee was called for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. At that meeting, the committee quickly reconsidered and approved the bill. It now moves to the full House of Representatives, and similar legislation remains alive in the Senate. The second vote was 16 yes votes, 2 no votes and no passes.

Reasons for the reversal weren’t made clear at the second meeting. State Rep. Jeffery Donohue, D-Fairdale, who voted no at both committee meetings, said the bill didn’t have enough “good-faith” discussion.

“I’m a little disappointed in leadership here. It just goes to show you how low we will go. Go any lower they’ll put a pitchfork in your hand, “ Donohue said.

The Kentucky General Assembly began a special session Tuesday to deal with COVID-19 policies.

At the first committee meeting, some lawmakers said they did not like that the bill ditched a statewide school mask mandate imposed by the Kentucky Board of Education and limited virtual instruction in districts to 20 days at a time when COVID-19 is spreading anew through Kentucky schools.

At the second meeting, several lawmakers said they were changing their vote so that the legislation could be heard in the full House. Others said they were afraid if the bill died, schools would miss out on the help the legislation could provide. One provision makes it easier for retired teachers to return to the classroom to ease staff shortages.

Amid a new surge of the coronavirus, at least 38 school districts have shut down classrooms this school year when faced with dozens of COVID positive kids and teachers, thousands of quarantines, and dire staff shortages.

Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Lexington, a Fayette public schools employee and a sponsor of the original bill, passed on voting on the legislation at the first House Education Committee because he wanted a matrix in place that would require masking when cases rise to a certain level.

“If I don’t ensure that’s put into place that’s almost as if I’m admitting that COVID is not a significant issue,” Timoney said. “I can’t do that.”

But he changed his vote to yes for the second vote.

“I passed earlier today due to questions about the 20 days of virtual instruction and the mask mandates,” Timoney explained to the Herald-Leader after he changed his vote. “I was given clearer information on how that would be addressed and wanted to give it a shot on the floor.”

Rep. Tina Bojanowski, D-Louisville, also passed on voting during the first meeting but voted yes on the second. She said she wanted larger school districts to have more flexibility to use remote instruction.

The Senate Education Committee on Tuesday approved a similar bill, which rejects the Beshear Administration’s emergency regulations requiring universal masking of people age two or older in K-12 schools and daycare centers.

Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 1 both declare the regulations requiring masks in schools and daycare centers null and void.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Max Wise, R-Campbellsville, has said under Senate Bill 1, which he sponsored, individual school boards will be free to decide their own policies about masking in schools.

The Senate Education Committee met again Wednesday to approve an altered version of SB 1.

The substitute bill in both chambers removed a provision that calls for schools to provide incentives for vaccinations because lawmakers said schools are already doing that. The substitute bill also made it easier for retired teachers to return to the classroom to help out with staff shortages.

Several lawmakers in the House and Senate filed floor amendments Wednesday seeking changes to the bills. Some were more extreme than the current legislation. Sen. Matt Castlen, R-Owensboro, filed a floor amendment to SB 1 that would prohibit school districts from requiring a student to wear a mask.

Rep. Felicia Rabourn , R-Turners Station, filed floor amendments that would not allow school districts to require vaccine mandates for people opposed to them on religious grounds. The Kentucky Department for Education couldn’t approve regulations requiring school mask mandates again under another of her floor amendments.

Still contained in the bills are measures that a school district could use to temporarily assign students at the school, grade, classroom, or student group level to remote instruction due to significant absences of students or staff related to COVID-19 until December 31, 2021.

Remote instruction could be provided to a particular school, grade, classroom, or group of students for up to 20 days. A school district could not temporarily assign every student in the district to remote instruction under this section unless all students in the school district are located in a single school facility.

This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 2:33 PM.