President Joe Biden is taking steps to mandate masks for public school students in Oklahoma contrary to a state law that prohibits that action apart from an emergency declaration from Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Stitt has not announced plans to make such a declaration to confront a spike in infections of the Chinese coronavirus in Oklahoma.

During the week of August 8-14, there were 15,490 new cases of coronavirus – up 10% from the week before. The Oklahoma State Health Department reported that 12,621 people had recovered – up 40% from the previous week – 82 people had died.

On August 16, statewide there were 2,193 non-vaccinated patients in hospitals and 185 patients who had been vaccinated. A third (736) of the non-vaccinated patients were 65 or old while 73.5% of the fully vaccination patients were in a hospital.

Biden has ordered U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to take steps to force states to let school districts mandate masks. As a result, Cardona sent letters to Oklahoma, Arizona, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah to force them to drop their prohibition on mask mandates at schools.

“We’re not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” Biden said.

In a letter Cardona sent to Stitt, he wrote,

“Oklahoma’s actions to block school districts from voluntarily adopting science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 that are aligned with the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts these goals at risk and may infringe upon a school district’s authority to adopt policies to protect students and educators as they develop their safe return to in-person instruction plans required by Federal law This state level action against science-based strategies for preventing the spread of COVID-19 appears to restrict the development of local health and safety policies.”

State School Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who has stated that schools must obey state laws, believes that schools districts and not the State Legislature should decide on mask mandates.

The Oklahoma City School Superintendent and a handful of other schools are ignoring the state law and forcing students, teachers and staff to wear masks.

The Biden Administration also is mandating masks on school buses, which violates state law in Oklahoma. It is questionable that Biden and the federal government can override state law because of the limited powers written in the Tenth Amendment.

Cardona wrote to Stitt that the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 empowers schools districts to mandate masks if the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) impose those guidelines. Cardona argued that school districts in Oklahoma are rebelling against the state law.

Cardona further outlined on his official blog the threats he would carry out if Stitt doesn’t bow to his wishes.

Cardona wrote, “We will take any necessary action to ensure that nothing interferes with a school district’s discretion to make these critical investments, including state policies from a governor, state legislature, state education agency, or other officials. This also includes paying the full salaries of educators (including superintendents) and school board members if their state moves to withhold their salary or levy financial penalties on their schools.”

He also threatened federal investigations into state actions and cutting off funding for certain programs. If parents or guardians of students complain to the federal authorities, a civil rights case could be filed against Oklahoma.

Tulsa mask mandate

The Tulsa City Council could vote on August 25 on whether to reimpose a mask mandate within city limits.

It would require anyone age 4 or older to wear a mask in an indoor public building.

Enforcement would be treated as a volation of trespassing laws.