SC breaks with CDC, saying it won’t enforce COVID-19 mask mandates on buses

The South Carolina Department of Education will not enforce local mask mandates on state-owned buses, the department said in a memo last week.

The memo, sent July 6 to district superintendents, was prompted by a proviso — a one-year rule written into the state’s budget — that prohibited school districts from enforcing a mask mandate at schools, lest the district face a loss of state funding.

Nothing in state law nor the proviso prevents schools from enacting their own mask mandates on buses, but the department of education will not enforce them, said department spokesman Ryan Brown.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends face masks be worn on school buses, according to the agency’s website. Asked why the department contradicted CDC guidance, Brown said it was because the state, not the districts, own the buses and that state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman had said previously she has no intention of enforcing mask mandates on buses in the 2021-2022 school year.

“That’s just keeping with that promise,” Brown said.

Masks have been among the most politically charged flashpoints in local schools during the pandemic. For example, Lexington-Richland 5 was torn over whether to require masks in schools. In May, when then-Lexington-Richland 5 Superintendent Christina Melton contradicted a board decision to not require masks, a board member threatened to censure Melton.

This story was originally published July 12, 2021 at 1:56 PM.