The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mask mandates in Texas schools, according to a letter Tuesday sent to the state's top education official.
The investigation by the department's Office for Civil Rights will focus on whether Texas is violating federal law by preventing disabled students from safely returning to in-person classes. Suzanne Goldberg, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, sent the letter to Texas education commissioner Mike Morath informing him of the investigation.
"OCR is concerned that Texas's restriction on schools and school districts from putting masking requirements in place may be preventing schools in Texas from meeting their legal obligations not to discriminate based on disability and from providing an equal educational opportunity to students with disabilities who are at heightened risk of severe illness from COVID-19," the letter said.
According to the letter, the department's civil right's office will review whether schools are being prevented from making individual decisions about mask use to allow students to receive a free public education and to be free from discrimination based on their disability.
"OCR will examine whether, in light of Texas's prohibition on local school districts and schools from requiring the use of masks, TEA may be preventing school districts in the state from considering or meeting the individual educational needs of students with disabilities or otherwise enabling discrimination based on disability in violation of Section 504 and Title II," the letter said.
Abbott has issued an executive order prohibiting agencies that receive public funding in Texas from instituting mask requirements. Multiple school districts, including Austin ISD, have defied the governor and required masks amid a surge in cases due to the delta variant of COVID-19.
Last week, the Texas Education Agency released an updated public health guidance that said school systems in the state could not require students or staff to wear a mask based on Abbott's executive order. A spokesperson for the agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier, the agency had said Abbott's ban on mask mandates would not be enforced while legal challenges to his executive order proceeded. Several such challenges are still pending before, or on their way to, the Texas Supreme Court.
The investigation into Texas comes weeks after the department notified state education leaders in five states — Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah — of an investigation into their bans on mask mandates for similar reasons.
Texas was not originally investigated because its mask mandate was not being enforced in the face of ongoing litigation.
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