The NPR Politics Podcast - Do School Mask Bans Violate The Rights Of Children With Disabilities?

Episode Date: September 6, 2021

The Biden administration is investigating several states over their bans on mask mandates in schools, saying the measures could violate the rights of children with disabilities who are entitled to a safe school environment.This episode: White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, and senior education editor and correspondent Cory Turner.Connect:Subscribe to the NPR Politics Podcast here.Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Listen to our playlist The NPR Politics Daily Workout.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. I cover the White House. I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover the White House. And today we've got Corey Turner back on the podcast from NPR's education team. Hey, Corey. Oh, my goodness. Hey, Corey. Hey. Hey, Corey. So we talked about this a bit ago, just a little bit ago on the podcast that the U.S. Department of Education, the Biden administration, that they were threatening that they would those states that were not allowing mass mandates in schools, that they might take action. And just last week, you reported that the Department of Education followed through on that, and they actually sent, I guess, a written warning to five states that their bans on mask mandates in schools could violate students' civil rights. So what

is the department arguing at this point? And what states is it targeting? Yeah, that's right, Aisha. So the department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights basically sent these letters to the state education leaders in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah, basically telling them that the Department's Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether their bans are discriminatory. So at the center of these concerns are really students with disabilities who may be at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19 and whether the state bans prevent these vulnerable kids from safely returning to in-person education. Here's the thing, Aisha, you got to understand that federal law specifically guarantees what's known as a free and appropriate

public education for kids with disabilities. And that's where the department's concern here is. So my colleague, Sneha Day, she spoke recently with one mom. Her name is Brittany Schweigert, who says that her 13-year-old son, Grayson, needs his classmates to wear a mask. Grayson has a rare genetic disorder, which means getting COVID could send him into renal failure. But they live in Tennessee, which obviously is one of these states. We cannot rely on other people's parenting to protect our special needs child. That's absurd. I was extremely upset. And I feel like Governor Lee

doesn't take into account that not all children are going to survive this decision. He's making a broad strokes decision for every child in Tennessee and children, thousands of families are in the same position that we are in here in Tennessee. They are mortified to send their kids back to school. And so basically what the education secretary, Miguel Cardona, appears to be saying here is that kids like Grayson have a federal right to be in class with their peers without this kind of fear for their safety. Yeah, it's almost like they're turning that argument about freedom on its head and saying that these kids have a right to go to school and that their freedom is being infringed by not having the protections of masks, which are, to be clear, recommended by the CDC. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says

to safely reopen schools, everyone on campus, vaccinated or not, kids, adults, everyone should be wearing masks right now with these high levels of COVID spread. And it's also worth saying, because most folks don't realize this unless they cover it like I do, that not all kids have this right to a free and appropriate public education. That is very specific language in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is that is the federal right. And so, you know, this education secretary feels like these bans may violate it. So they're going to do these investigations, but they seem to right now only be targeting certain states.

I didn't hear Florida, which obviously is a big, you know, in the news about this. And I didn't hear states like Arizona. Why are they only targeting certain states that have been fighting against these mask mandates? Yeah, I think this is one of the things that most surprised me when I first heard about it from the department itself. I looked at the release and was like, well, where's Texas? The Ed Department says that it is not focusing on those states. I think there are four states with bans that are not on this list because it says those bans are not currently being enforced. And that is largely because of legal actions that are already underway in those states

where suits have been filed and the courts have basically stepped in and either stopped or at least paused the bans. Tam, the Biden administration has and President Biden has been, you know, coming out against these bans. He's congratulated, you know, those districts that are standing up and defying these bans. I know that you talked to the Secretary of Education recently. What did he have to say about the strength of these investigations? Because I think we talked about this before. The federal government doesn't have a lot of power when it comes to these local school districts because that is a local issue. It's a local and state issue and not necessarily a federal issue. Right. So I talked to him before they announced this action, but you could hear hints that it

was coming in our conversation. And I specifically asked him about Arizona. I had talked to a superintendent of a school district in a rural part of Arizona where, you know, they weren't allowed to require masks. And also the local politics were such that requiring masks would have been hard in in that district anyway. But in the first week, he gave me this laundry list, you know, an entire kindergarten class in quarantine. You know, the football team in quarantine because the quarterback tested positive, student council president tested positive. So all of the student council had to be in quarantine. And I asked Cardona about that and if that was sort of the thing that they were worried about. We know what works. And in those places where they're super confident that they can reopen schools without the mitigation strategies that we know

work, that's what's going to happen. We're disrupting the educational experience of our students. That's unfortunate. At the end of the day, the president's push is because we know what's best for kids. Kids need to be in the classrooms with their teachers. They need to be in the classroom with their peers. And poor policy like this one prevents that. And, you know, my message to the governors was very clear. Don't be the reason schools are disrupted. And I did ask him, OK, so what are the sticks here? Do you have sticks or is it all carrots? And his answer was sort of long and not that concrete, because the reality is, as you said, there's only so much that the federal government can do. There's a lot of local control over schools. And so all they really have is

funding. What he has told districts where the state is threatening to take away funding if they do require masks, he said, hey, you could use Recovery Act funds to cover the losses. That's sort of another carrot rather than a stick. Yeah, I think it's important to note that really the only leverage the department has here is the sort of usual bucket of federal funding it sends to schools every year, which is really only about 10% of school funding anyway. And that funding, because of the way it's distributed, is preferenced toward high-need schools in low-income communities. And Cardona himself has said before, like,

really the last thing I want to do is cut that funding. That's just going to hurt the kids. All right, let's take a quick break. And when we get back, we'll talk more about how states are responding to this and also President Biden's approval ratings. And we're back. I wanted to ask you, Corey, about how administrators in these states are responding to these investigations. Are they pushing back? Are they concerned? What's happening with that? Yeah, you know, I've been talking all summer with school superintendents. And while I've heard from a few rural school leaders where transmission rates are really low, that they're not a fan of masks, and they don't think kids there should have to wear them. For the most part,

what I've been hearing is, at least from school administrators and teachers, we support the wearing of masks. And insofar as these investigations are concerned, you know, I heard the evening this came out, I spoke briefly with the Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joy Hoffmeister. She's an elected Republican, and she told me she absolutely supports the fact that the Ed Department is investigating her state's mask mandate ban. She says the ban prevents schools from fulfilling their legal duty to protect and provide all students the opportunity to learn. So she basically agrees with Cardona's premise. And we ended our conversation. She told me, I want this state law to be stricken.

We talked about earlier about how they're mostly carrots and not really a lot of very effective sticks for dealing with this issue of masks in schools. In some ways, that's where things are in general with the federal government and the coronavirus right now. They've got the vaccines out, but now you have the Delta variant. And NPR has a new poll out. And Biden's approval rating on his handling of the pandemic has gone way down, right, Tam? Yeah, he saw a nine-point drop in his approval in just a month, his approval as relates to the handling of coronavirus. And that's pretty significant because his handling of the coronavirus has been one of the strongest parts of his overall approval of his presidency. Still, a majority of Americans view his handling favorably, 55% approved to 41. That is 10 points better than approval of former President Trump's handling of the pandemic at any point in the

pandemic, to be clear. But it certainly is a warning sign for the president. To me, what stood out much more from this poll and relates to what we've been talking about is how people view mask mandates at school. One of the questions in the poll essentially described the CDC recommendations, which is that everyone on school campuses, including vaccinated adults, wear a mask at school. And 65% of adults approve of this policy, according to the survey. So in essence, that this is a fight that is happening over a policy that is popular. I mean, 65% support. That's high, but I would imagine there is a partisan breakdown to that, right? Oh, you think?

Shall we look under the hood? Yeah. So this breaks down to 91% of Democrats support requiring masks at school. Just 32% of Republicans do. So it totally makes sense why you would have Republican governors, especially those with national political aspirations who want attention, why you would have them taking a stand on masks. Because politically, it works with their base. But Corey, the thing about that is you can not require masks, but then there is a disruption to schools when people have to quarantine and you have to shut down

and you have to do the virtual schooling, which no one likes. Right. I sure don't like it. I don't like it. Not only that, Aisha, but some states have actually banned their schools from doing any remote learning. So like if kids get quarantined and sent home, it's not clear what they're doing. And again, like if you're not, if not all kids are wearing masks, I think it stands to reason that when Delta comes to town, as it inevitably will, you're going to be sending

more kids into quarantine because there are just going to be fewer layers of protection between your vulnerable students and Delta. It's either uncomfortable now or it's going to be uncomfortable later. It seems to me, at least looking at the science. It's a rock and a hard place or a rock and a mask or something, but it's... Put a mask on a rock? Put a mask on a rock and send the rock home to watch SpongeBob and not go to school. It's not good. So on that bright note, though, I think we'll have to leave it there. Corey, I'm sure we'll have you back before too

long because I'm sending my kids to school next week. And I know, Tam, you're sending your kids to school. They're there. So I'm sure these issues are not going to go away. So I'm sure we'll be talking to you soon. But let's let's leave it there. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. I'm Aisha Roscoe. I cover the White House. And I'm Tamara Keith. I also cover the White House. And thank you for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.