Pressure mounts for South Carolina special session to lift ban on school mask mandates

(The Center Square) – Momentum is building for lawmakers to return to Columbia to repeal a budget amendment that bans South Carolina K-12 public schools from imposing mask and vaccine requirements on students, faculty and staff.

The pressure, however, is on chamber leaders to convene the emergency meeting because Gov. Henry McMaster reiterated Tuesday he has no intention of calling a special session he deems unnecessary.

“Parents are the best experts on their own children,” McMaster said. “If they want them to wear a mask, then by all means, they should let their child wear a mask. If they don’t want their child to wear a mask, they are the expert and they should not be forced by the government to require their child to wear a mask.”

South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman made it clear Tuesday she disagrees with the governor.

“I do believe that this issue is best handled by local school boards,” she said. “We have two ways now to make that happen: Either the Legislature comes back in, and I have asked them to do that continually, or this ends up in the courts and the courts resolve it. I disagree with the governor on this.”

The South Carolina House and Senate Democratic caucuses, as well as the Legislative Black Caucus, echoed the call Tuesday for a special session.

“This is not about Democrats or Republicans,” Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun, said. “We’re not here to criticize anyone for their vote back in June when the seven-day average of new cases stood at 150.

“Today, however,” he said, “that seven-day average is 3,390 and school officials need the ability to implement measures they feel necessary to keep the children of South Carolina safe.”

Four state senators, including two Republicans, requested a special session Monday night. In a four-paragraph letter to Senate President Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, the four senators, including Senate Judicial Committee Chair Luke Rankin, R-Horry, said the chamber must convene quickly to reassess budget proviso.

“When originally passed, many may have thought that COVID-19 was well under control,” the letter said. “Now many in the Senate would like to revisit this proviso given the current conditions.”

Also Monday, more than 1,000 physicians from across the state submitted a petition, the South Carolina School Board Association (SCSBA) issued a statement and 43 members of the House Democratic Caucus called on the General Assembly to adopt a statewide school indoor mandatory mask policy or allow locally elected school boards determine their own policies.

“Local governments and school districts need to do what is necessary to protect public health in their communities,” House Minority Leader Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, wrote. “The situation has changed for the worse since the General Assembly passed Proviso 1.108 in June, and we need to act immediately to repeal it.”

School boards and municipalities across the state are openly adopting mask mandates despite two opinions from Attorney General Alan Wilson that determined such mandates run afoul of the amendment attached to the state budget.

The Charleston County school board became the latest to do so, mandating masks Monday in an 8-1 vote.

“We don’t want to have to go virtual in two weeks,” board member Kate Darby said. “We want to be in person. We know this is not going to be easy, but we also don’t want to have any of our kids in the hospital, any of our teachers in the hospital or any of our kids not make it because of COVID.”

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