Yes, Youngkin’s Mask Mandate Ban Applies to Private Schools, and That’s aBad Thing

pa href=https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey hreflang=undNeal McCluskey/a
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pOn Friday, Inbsp;wrote about the a href=https://www.cato.org/blog/youngkins-executive-disorder-school-maskingambiguity in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order/a forbidding mask mandates in Virginia schools, which appeared to apply to both public and private institutions. That morning Cato Center for Education Freedom staff called the Virginia Department of Education asking for clarification, because we had seen no explicit public statement that the order included private schools. Yesterday we received confirmation that the order is, indeed, intended to apply to private schools./p
pThis is bad news. If you want to empower parents—emall/em parents—as Gov. Youngkin suggests he does, the way to do it is not to cut off their schooling options. But that is what this order does, saying private schools—emchosen/em schools—cannot have policies that at least some parents want. In this case, full masking to minimize the threat of COVID-19./p
pAs we at Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom have a href=https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2021/10/29/school_choice_is_the_way_to_prevent_mask_battles_in_schools_110661.htmlpointed/a a href=https://www.cato.org/blog/yes-we-should-focus-peace-educationout/a—and much of the country a href=https://www.edchoice.org/engage/the-year-of-educational-choice-is-here/seems to have recognized/a—COVID-19 has been anbsp;perfect example of why choice is necessary. Diverse families have myriad needs, fears, and desires, and only choice enables them to get what they believe they need without having to impose on others. That is an immensely valuable thing that needs to be greatly expanded, not constrained, especially by executive fiat./p