Masks will still be required in schools if school boards mandate it. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill Thursday that would have let parents decide if students wear masks in school.
“I have encouraged local boards to lift mask mandates and they are doing it across the state with the advice of health officials who see that COVID metrics are declining and vaccinations are increasing,” Cooper said in a statement. “The bipartisan law the legislature passed and I signed last year allows local boards to make these decisions for their own communities and that is still the right course. Passing laws for political purposes that encourage people to pick and choose which health rules they want to follow is dangerous and could tie the hands of public health officials in the future.”
Nearly all of the state’s school districts already are making masks optional, as Cooper urged them to lift local mandates last week.
The legislation sponsored by Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, of Kings Mountain, was rushed through the General Assembly within days of its proposal.
The bill, a committee substitute for Senate Bill 173, is titled an “Act to Provide Parental Discretion in Requirements for Face Coverings on Public School Unit Property,” also known as “Free the Smiles.” It would make wearing a mask optional for students and also would repeal the state law requiring monthly votes on masks by school boards.
In a committee meeting the day the bill passed, Moore told his House colleagues that “enough is enough” and that it was “past time” to act on masks.
The same day the bill passed, Cooper held a news conference urging local leaders to end mask mandates in schools as well as towns and cities. Cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19, which is milder than other variants, especially in people who are vaccinated, have dropped off precipitously in the past month. Vaccinations are free and readily available across the state to everyone ages 5 and older.
In a vote before the governor’s press conference, the House voted 76-42 in favor of the bill, and the Senate voted 28-17 in favor. Seven Democrats voted with Republicans in the House, and two Democrats voted with Republicans in the Senate, which is enough to override a veto.
Senate leader Phil Berger said last week that people in North Carolina wanted their elected officials to pursue what they think is important, and “I can’t think of hardly any matter that parents of school-age children view as more important than getting their kids out of required masks.”
Some parents, and school systems, do not want to lift mask mandates yet.
Cooper told reporters last week that he thought the legislation was “unwise” but would review it. Within days of the bill passing and Cooper’s announcement that the Department of Health and Human Services school safety toolkit would change as of March 7, more and more school districts have made plans to drop mask mandates. The schools toolkit from DHHS has been used during the pandemic for guidance on masks, social distancing, vaccinations, testing and other measures of health safety.
This week, the school board of Wake County Public School System, the largest in the state, voted 7-1 to end the mandate in the coming days. So did Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
On Thursday, Moore said he was disappointed in the veto of what he called a “common-sense bill.”
All health care decisions for our students belong with their parents, not with politicians or bureaucrats,” Moore said in a statement. “Actions speak louder than words, and the governor should do more than ‘encourage’ schools to lift their mask mandates. Return this decision back to parents.”
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