A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a halt to the enforcement of Texas’ ban on mask mandates in the state’s schools, ruling that it violates the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act.
U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled that the ban ordered by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott violated the 1990 federal law, which protects disabled students’ access to public education.
“The spread of COVID-19 poses an even greater risk for children with special health needs,” Yeakel said. “Children with certain underlying conditions who contract Covid-19 are more likely to experience severe acute biological effects and to require admission to a hospital and the hospital’s intensive-care unit. This includes children with conditions including, Down syndrome, organ transplants, lung conditions, heart conditions, and weakened immune systems.”
“The evidence presented by Plaintiffs establishes that Plaintiffs are being denied the benefits of in-person learning on an equal basis as their peers without disabilities,” Yeakel added.
Abbott signed the order in May, which banned public schools from implementing mask mandates for students, faculty and visitors.
“Texans, not government, should decide their best health practices, which is why masks will not be mandated by public school districts or government entities,” Abbott said at the time. “We can continue to mitigate COVID-19 while defending Texans’ liberty to choose whether or not they mask up.”
The nonprofit advocacy group Disabled Rights Texas, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of a number of families of students with disabilities against the governor, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, argued that Abbott’s ban put students with disabilities at risk.
“Governor Abbott’s executive order clearly violates federal law, and Attorney General Paxton’s enforcement of the order against school districts is now stopped,” Kym Davis Johnson of Disability Rights Texas wrote in a statement. “As the court found, Texas is not above federal law, and state officials cannot prevent school districts from providing accommodations to students who are especially vulnerable to the risks of COVID-19.”
Yeakel prohibited Texas Attorney General Paxton from suing school districts that require students to wear masks as a safety measure. Paxton already had sued 15 school districts to overturn those local mask mandates.
Paxton on Wednesday night responded to the ruling, writing on Twitter that he disagrees wholeheartedly with the ruling and plans to appeal the decision.
“I strongly disagree with Judge Yeakel’s opinion barring my office from giving effect to GA-38, which prohibits mask mandates imposed by government entities like school districts,” the post on the Texas Attorney General’s official Twitter account reads. My Agency is considering all legal avenues to challenge this decision.”
