Today, Representatives Lois Frankel (FL-21), Ted Deutch (FL-22), and Alcee Hastings (FL-20), State Senators Lori Berman (SD-31) and Kevin Rader (SD-29), and State Representatives Joe Casello (HD-90), David Silvers (HD-87), Matt Willhite (HD-86), and Tina Polsky (HD-81) sent a letter to Governor Ron DeSantis urging reversal of his administration’s actions requiring Palm Beach County schools to offer full in-person learning upon the county entering Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan, or face the loss of public funding.

The letter states in part, “Families want their children to safely return to school to learn and socialize, thereby enabling working parents to return to work. With that in mind, we write to express our vigorous opposition to recent actions taken by your administration that have had the consequence of transferring the decision of school reopening from the Palm Beach County School Board to the Palm Beach County Commission. This impairs both bodies as they make important decisions.”

The letter continues, “While in-person schooling should be our goal, the Florida Constitution requires school reopening decisions be made by the local school board and should be guided by local conditions and scientific data, not threats of severe financial penalties. We respectfully and urgently ask that you pull back the threat of defunding and allow the school board to proceed at a pace they determine to be safe and conducive to learning.”

Full text of the letter is available here.

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