Wolf asks GOP leaders to reconvene and pass school mask requirement
Gov. Tom Wolf found a key ally in Allegheny County on Wednesday as he asked Republican leaders to return to session and pass a bill mandating masks in K-12 schools and child care centers.
County Executive Rich Fitzgerald deemed it “very responsible” of Mr. Wolf to write to GOP leadership and urge them to mandate masks in the classroom — something that the governor has fervently recommended, but has ultimately left up to local school districts to make the final call.
“I think what the governor is
saying is that earlier this year, the Legislature decided that they wanted to be the ones to set the policy and kind of take some of that authority away from the governor and the Department of Health — and he’s asking them to come into session, have that deliberation and to protect the students across the commonwealth,” Mr. Fitzgerald said, referring to a pair of constitutional amendments that passed earlier this year limiting the governor’s emergency powers.
Mr. Wolf’s letter — addressed to Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman and House Speaker Bryan Cutler — asked the leaders to “work together” with him to manage the ongoing threat of COVID-19 and the contagious delta variant that continues to spread.
A spokesperson for Mr. Cutler said the two leaders were reviewing Mr. Wolf’s letter and were likely to respond Thursday. A spokesperson for House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre, said the House GOP caucus was against voting on a statewide mask mandate.
“Just because there’s not a statewide mandate requiring people to wear masks doesn’t mean people don’t have the option to wear masks,” said Mr. Benninghoff’s spokesman Jason Gottesman.
Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said the governor is doing what the people of Pennsylvania asked him to do: involve the Legislature in his response to the pandemic. It’s up to Republicans if they want to accept that invite, he said.
“I’m hopeful they recognize the importance of this issue and the importance of working together to come up with a solution that’s not a hodgepodge of orders around the commonwealth through 500 different school districts — 500 different variations of orders in place, each one unique to that district,” Mr. Costa said.
Mr. Costa said he isn’t surprised by the low number of school districts that are mandating masks in their classrooms, adding that he’s “concerned that there are a lot of folks who believe that we are out of the woods with respect to the virus.”
The Democratic governor claimed his administration has received an “outpouring” of calls from parents and teachers about the need for a mask mandate, given that children under age 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.
They “report that their school districts are either refusing to implement them because of political pressure or false claims about their efficacy,” Mr. Wolf wrote.
“For most of the past 18 months, the legislature has asked for my administration to defer to local governments and local organizations when making mitigation decisions. We have done that to the extent possible while still providing broad public health guidance,” Mr. Wolf’s letter read. “Now instead of letting school districts, universities, and other organizations make these decisions free of duress, some in the legislature appear to be pressuring these organizations to make specific decisions.”
Mr. Fitzgerald, praising the governor’s letter at a news briefing on Wednesday, cited a statistic from it: that 59 of the almost 500 school districts that submitted health and safety plans had implemented mandatory masking policies across the state. He said half of those are in Allegheny County.
Dr. Debra Bogen, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, also called for universal masking in K-12 schools, as she’s done before.
“The health of your students and staff and your ability to continue in-person learning depend on it,” Dr. Bogen said.
The county executive joined officials from Mr. Wolf’s administration earlier this week at Mt. Lebanon High School to mark the first day of in-person schooling there, where he applauded the district for mandating masks and urged other districts in the county to follow suit.
The representatives from Mr. Wolf’s administration continued to urge masking but said local districts would get to make their own decisions.
Department of Education Secretary Noe Ortega said they’ve learned from the past 16 months that “circumstances were very different across the entire commonwealth when it came to making decisions about mitigation efforts.”
In a statement Wednesday, Rich Askey, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said masking is “essential to keeping kids learning in person in the classroom all year,” and echoed calls for the legislature and governor to work together to implement statewide policy.
“This is so important that we believe policymakers should explore all possible avenues to ensuring our schools remain safe, including legislative action, if that is the best way to achieve this,” Mr. Askey said.