Missouri schools must obey the state ban against COVID mandates or face losing funding.
This month, state treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick started requiring schools to comply with Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s warning to not invoke COVID-related mandates in exchange for refinancing their bond debt, according to Missourinet.
Schmitt threatened legal action in December against school districts and local health departments that have a mask requirement. He cited a ruling from November by Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green that said COVID health orders, such as quarantines, are unconstitutional under the Missouri Constitution’s separation of powers clause, the St. Louis Dispatch reported.
Fitzpatrick’s policy pressures districts to comply with the ban. Schools districts could have increased interest rates on debts without help from the Treasurer’s Office.
“These schools received certification forms because their bond deals were scheduled to close after the Attorney General communicated with schools about the court decision and we were made aware of several schools which did not intend to comply with the order,” Treasurer’s Office spokeswoman Mary Compton wrote in an email Friday, according to The Associated Press.
Seven schools attempting to refinance have been sent compliance letters from the Treasurer’s office, with four of them signing the agreement and three pending, Compton said.
“For us, it doesn’t make sense for the state to enter an agreement allowing a district to piggyback off of our credit rating, if simultaneously they’re about to be sued by the state for not complying with, you know, a court order and what the attorney general is, has interpreted as being the law,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview with Missourinet.
“There are other means in which to refinance their bonds, but they may not get as good of an interest rate if they go through a private entity as opposed to this program,” said St. Louis-area nonprofit EducationPlus spokeswoman Christine McDonald. “So thus they don’t have the ability to save taxpayer dollars by using the lowest interest rate available.”
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McDonald said some district officials were frustrated by the request because they have never faced conditions to participate in the treasurer’s debt assistance program. Also, Fitzpatrick asked superintendents to certify that their districts will abide by the court ruling. But McDonald said school boards, not superintendents, make coronavirus safety rules.
“So even by signing that, your school board could still vote to do whatever they want on certain policies,” she said.
Schmitt on Friday said his office has sent 52 cease-and-desist letters to districts where parents have reported noncompliance with Green’s ruling.
“We will continue to fight these mask mandates and quarantine orders and enforce the law,” Schmitt said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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