Florida government will pay for student transfers to new schools in case of 'COVID harassment'

On Friday, Florida's Board of Education unanimously voted to provide school transfer vouchers for any students who are affected by what they call "COVID-19" harassment.

Such harassment in the new rule is defined as "any threatening, discriminatory, insulting, or dehumanizing verbal, written or physical conduct an individual student suffers in relation to, or as a result of, school district protocols for COVID-19, including masking requirements, the separation or isolation of students, or COVID-19 testing requirements, that have the effect of substantially interfering with a student’s educational performance, opportunities or benefits."

The rule goes on to state, "Unnecessarily isolating, quarantining, or subjecting children to physical COVID-19 constraints in schools poses a threat to developmental upbringing and should not occur absent a heightened showing of an actual illness or serious risk of illness to other students."

According to the Daily Wire, "state education and health officials came up with the emergency rule in response to Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order last week banning local school districts from having mask mandates."

"The order cited Florida’s Parents’ Bill of Rights and directed the state’s health and education departments to design and implement rules to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks."

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) recently commented on the issue at a press conference, saying that there will be no further restrictions in schools, or anywhere else in Florida:

"In terms of imposing any restrictions, that’s not happening in Florida. It’s harmful. It’s destructive. It does not work."

"We really believe that individuals know how to best assess their risks. We trust them to be able to make those decisions. We just want to make sure everybody has information."