How will Columbia enforce mayor’s COVID mask mandate in city schools?

Now that Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin has declared a state of emergency, laying the groundwork for a mask mandate in schools, teachers, critics and the public are asking how the mayor plans to enforce it.

Benjamin said fire marshals will be dispatched to elementary and middle schools schools in the same way they enforced the city mask mandate in place last year.

The mayor said fire marshals will check in on schools and issue $100 fines for violations, but he said children or teachers won’t be fined. But administrators face fines for violations. The city also will provide masks to schools for people to wear.

“I fully expect, based on my conversations with superintendents, they will comply with our local law. We love teachers,” Benjamin said. “We will support teachers. We want to make sure teachers are able to remain healthy and safe.”

But Benjamin’s order has an obstacle, state leaders said.

As part of the state budget that took effect July 1, lawmakers included what’s called a proviso, a one-year law included in the state’s annual spending plan, prohibiting state dollars from being used to enforce mask mandates in schools.

Benjamin said his move won’t require any state dollars in order to enforce.

“There will be common sense, we will be thoughtful,” Benjamin said at a Wednesday press conference. “Obviously, we’re working with children, and that will be our goal, but there will be accountability with this.”

The state Attorney General’s Office wouldn’t immediately comment on whether Columbia’s approach is legal because a final version has yet to be adopted by the city council.

“We have attorneys looking at what we know so far and will have a final answer once something is passed, we have all the facts, and have had time to do the necessary research and analysis,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Reporter John Monk contributed to this article.

This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 4:59 PM.

Joseph Bustos

The State

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Joseph Bustos is a state government and politics reporter at The State. He’s a Northwestern University graduate and previously worked in Illinois covering government and politics. He has won reporting awards in both Illinois and Missouri. He moved to South Carolina in November 2019 and won the Jim Davenport Award for Excellence in Government Reporting for his work in 2022. Support my work with a digital subscription