Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton is backing away from calls for the state legislature to overrule school districts that impose mask mandates, saying in an interview Thursday that he doesn’t want to interfere with local school boards making their own decisions.
The comments come after House Republicans called for a special session to deal with mask mandates. But Sexton, who has spearheaded the effort, claims it’s not meant to override school boards requiring masks.
“It’s not overriding, because if you say the school board has the authority to mandate a mask, OK. But then parents need to have the options to where they can opt out of it,” he tells WPLN News. “They need to have the capability where they can pull their kid out and go to another public school, potentially. Or they may have the potential to pull their kids out and take the money and go to private school or homeschool or somewhere else.”
Sexton sent a letter Wednesday signed by all House Republicans to Gov. Bill Lee requesting a special session to “protect Tennesseans from misguided mandates.” That was widely interpreted as a call for the legislature to overrule districts that have imposed mask mandates amid the spread of the Delta variant.
More: Tennessee House Speaker Asks Governor For Special Session To Roll Back Local COVID Rules
But following pushback, including from the leader of the state Senate, Sexton now says he does not want to overrule local school officials. But he does want to give parents opposed to masks other choices.
Sexton has not made a specific proposal about how such a pandemic school choice program would work. The state already has several ways a parent could have options, including a statewide K-8 virtual school program that predates the pandemic. Lee’s attempt at a limited private school voucher program was passed into law but is currently held up in court.
The special session request reaches more broadly than masks in schools, and also pinpoints the six urban health boards that operate independently of the Tennessee Department of Health. Sexton and Lee have both said they don’t like how Shelby County decided to require masks in all of its school districts and private schools, rather than letting everyone decide for themselves.
The letter also raises concern about people potentially not being allowed in buildings because of their vaccination status.
But on masking in schools, Sexton says parents need clear options if they think it’s best for their child not to wear a mask, because he expects the issue — like COVID itself — may stick around much longer than expected.
“We’re talking about putting masks on kids like we’re just going to be doing it for one year,” he says. “But this virus is not just here for just one year. So you have to think about, is this what you want for the next five years, 10 years?”
The governor has not yet responded to the special session request. Lee’s office expects to give an answer by early next week.
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