DeSantis softens school board salary threats over mask mandates

[Zorro]

Source: Tampa Bay Times

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration signaled earlier this week that it would slash the pay of Florida school superintendents and school board members who defy the governor on school masks.

But now — as two Florida districts, including Broward County Public Schools, remain defiant — the governor’s office is acknowledging the state has no control over local employees’ pay. His spokesperson called on “activist, anti-science school board members” to dock their own salaries if the state follows through with financial sanctions against their district.

“Those officials should own their decision — and that means owning the consequences of their decisions rather than demanding students, teachers, and school staff to foot the bill for their potential grandstanding,” Christina Pushaw, the governor’s press secretary, said in an email to the Times/Herald.

The tug-of-war between local school officials and DeSantis’ administration is playing out as millions of students return to in-person classes across Florida and parents weigh the risk of contagion amid a recent surge in coronavirus cases, including among youth and children.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/08/12/desantis-softens-school-board-salary-threats-over-mask-mandates/

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The backpedaling has begun.

[Skittles]

1. fucking asshole

he needs to find out that using children's lives as a bargaining chip makes him a fucking PSYCHOPATH

[mpcamb]

6. Plant his ass in a witness seat, too!

Make his lies part of the public record for future cases against him!

[BumRushDaShow]

2. "the governor's office is acknowledging the state has no control over local employees' pay"

I know people were were posting that yesterday. What a jackass.

[RockRaven]

3. He engaged in MAGAt performance art & didn't expect to be defied. Now he has to muddy up

the waters around his threats to avoid looking impotent.

[IronLionZion]

4. Did someone show him bad poll numbers?

he sounds like he's flipped on several hard red lines he bloviated about in a Trumpy fashion.

[PSPS]

7. That wasn't it. All he cares about is how he polls in MAGA-land

He was bluffing from the start, and he got called. He has no control over people's salaries, but pretending that he does gives him cred with the MAGA, who love the "Il Duce" act.

He and Abbott are just positioning themselves for the presidential primary in '24, where they will have to out-MAGA each other.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Republican threat to take away their money blows up in his face

What a dope.

[paleotn]

8. Guess he's discovered...

he's not a fascist dictator. Though a sizable portion of FL's populace would love to have one, apparently.

[keithbvadu2]

9. If they are breaking the law, arrest them.

If they are breaking the law, arrest them.

Don't make empty threats about withholding pay.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. DeSantis admits defeat in threats to cut pay of school leaders who impose mask mandates

DeathSantis' bluff was called

Link to tweet

DeSantis had claimed that he would cut the salaries of superintendents and funding to community schools that mandate students wear masks. Currently, Florida is suffering a massive increase in COVID-19 cases and most parents are desperate to protect their children. His hardened and Trump-like approach to the COVID crisis led his poll numbers to sink and turned his state against him as hospitals climb to capacity.

According to DeSantis, the penalties against the superintendents will be on the "honor system." He said that it will be "on them" to cut their own pay.

"Those officials should own their decision — and that means owning the consequences of their decisions rather than demanding students, teachers, and school staff to foot the bill for their potential grandstanding," DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw, told he Miami Herald.

"Neither the Florida Department of Education nor the Board of Education control the payroll distribution of school districts," Superintendent Carlee Simon and School Board Chair Leanetta McNealy said in a letter from Alachua County Public Schools. "Your action would, however, remove funding from our district's general fund and would be a reduction of allocation."

[Bucky]

11. I love how DeSantis thinks of "taking responsibility" as a kind of punishment to them

See, taking responsibility is exactly why they ran for office, you knit wit. Anyway, reducing the number of kids who get sick isn't a bad thing. I'm not sure the governor understands that, and given how he was saying the consequence of mask mandates is the immediate descent into Big Brother fascism

even when he's right he's a maroon