If Horry Schools requires masks to curb COVID, federal money could follow. Will they do it?
Horry County Schools (HCS) won’t require face masks in school buildings as a federal grant program offers financial protection to districts who lose funding after defying state laws to require them, officials confirmed to The Sun News.
In South Carolina, a one-year law was attached to the state budget by the General Assembly prohibiting school districts from using funds to enforce a mask mandate, effectively banning districts from requiring face coverings. If school districts defy this law, they could lose state funding. HCS has repeatedly said it would follow the law, called a proviso, even in light of the possibility of getting federal grants to make up for the potential loss of state funding.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) both recommend universal masking indoors, especially within school buildings.
HCS won’t require masks
The federal Department of Education announced Sept. 9 a program that would provide grants to school districts penalized for implementing COVID-19 precautions, dubbed Project SAFE. The program allows for districts to apply for grants to restore funding cut for going against state rules outlawing certain COVID-19 protocols.
“Every student across the country deserves the opportunity to return to school in-person safely this fall, and every family should be confident that their school is implementing policies that keep their children safe,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the release announcing the program.
The district is aware of the grant program from the Department of Education, HCS spokesperson Lisa Bourcier said.
Other large school districts in the state have attempted to go against the law banning mask mandates, and the City of Columbia attempted to require masks in schools, but that decision was struck down by the S.C. Supreme Court, which decided the state law prevailed over local ordinances.
Even with the potential for federal funding to compensate the possible loss of state funding, HCS officials said the district wouldn’t require masks due to the state’s Supreme Court ruling.
“Given this S.C. Supreme Court ruling, we do not think it is logical, advisable, or more important, even legal for the school district’s administration or the Horry County Board of Education to enact a face mask mandate in our schools,” Bourcier told The Sun News.
Vaccine and mask requirements
As another attempt to curb the virus’ spread, President Joe Biden has also called on states to require vaccinations for school employees, as well as announcing employees at companies with more than 100 workers would be subject to mandatory vaccination or consistent testing. HCS, with more than 5,500 employees, has said it will wait until guidance from the state education department is passed down before deciding whether to require vaccines or testing for its staff. Bourcier said the district is working to provide opportunities for students and staff to get the shot, but it’s unclear how many HCS employees and students have been vaccinated.
The mask debate has been a hot-button issue in schools across South Carolina and the country as classes began in the midst of some of the highest case counts and hospitalizations so far in the COVID-19 pandemic. In HCS, more than 2,400 students and staff have been infected with the virus this school year, district data shows.
Teachers and staff members at HCS worry an ‘impending disaster’ could be coming if the district doesn’t do more to slow the spread of the coronavirus, in particular require masks, and at least one teacher has contacted the district and state officials, calling on leaders to implement a mask requirement and repeal the proviso prohibiting them.
DHEC has said it technically has the authority to require masks in schools, but the ability to enforce the requirement is questionable, and the agency has raised concerns about the practical elements of a statewide mask mandate. While the department could require masks on a district-by-district basis, DHEC wouldn’t have the power to enforce it.
“...We would work closely with school officials before issuing such an order and would need to determine an effective enforcement mechanism,” DHEC spokesperson Laura Renwick recently told The Sun News.
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
