Feds, look over here!

State school chiefs generally don’t cheer when the Education Department launches investigations into the operations of their schools. But that is how at least two state superintendents responded when the Biden administration announced it would investigate whether prohibitions against universal mask mandates, which include schools, violate the law.

That these educators welcomed federal involvement underscores the critical role masks play in keeping children safe and in the classroom. That should give pause to officials who cynically imposed these bans to score political points, with no regard for what best serves students.

The civil rights division of the Education Department recently sent letters to education leaders in five states informing them of investigations to determine if statewide bans on mask mandates violate civil rights laws protecting students with disabilities.

According to the letters, students with disabilities may be at heightened risk for severe illness from covid-19, and bans against mask mandates may keep these students from in-person instruction, abrogating their right to free appropriate public education.

What is clear is that masks, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly stressed, are among the most effective tools to prevent the spread of the virus. With the highly contagious Delta variant now taking a heavier toll on children as they return to school, it is more important than ever that schools follow CDC recommendations for a layered mitigation strategy that makes universal masking a priority.

One need only to look to states that thumbed their noses at science-based strategies to understand the consequences.