Big school districts continue to defy DeSantis, redistricting sparks, COVID’s household wounds

It’s Monday, Oct. 11, and do you know where we are on masks, quarantines and mandates?

We follow these things for a living and even we are confused about where Florida stands on the mask mandate mess.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

The State of Florida has adopted rules requiring that parents be allowed to decide if their children should wear masks in school and whether they should be quarantined if they are exposed to COVID-19 and are asymptomatic. But eight of the state’s largest school districts are defying those rules, in part because they conflict with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Funding cuts: Being defiant in these uncompromising times comes with a cost., however. The State Board of Education decided last week that the eight Florida school districts —Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange and Palm Beach — should face funding cuts for defying the state rule on student masks. The Biden Administration has come to the districts’ defense, creating a grant program to reimburse those school districts for the amount the state withholds.

Things are not static:As COVID cases have declined in Florida in the last month, COVID protocols have loosened.

Miami-Dade an Broward Schools have stricter quarantine and mask rules than the state. Only fully vaccinated students don’t have to quarantine after exposure if they remain asymptomatic. But Miami-Dade no longer requires high school and middle school students who are exposed to COVID-19 and are asymptomatic to quarantine for 10 days. They can return to school if they test negative with a PCR test administered on or after the fifth day of contact with the infected person.

Rescued school money: Florida was only state to not seek funds from American Rescue Plan pandemic relief for schools until last week when the state made the belated request two days after a Biden administration official accused the state of missing deadlines in June, July and August and the same day Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho sent a letter saying it needed the money to prevent student regression. The state’s explanation was that the school districts couldn’t prove they needed the $2.3 billion.

Economic burn of pandemic: How badly did the pandemic hurt people’s pocketbooks? Miami-Dade offers a painful glimpse, according to the results of a new survey from United Way Miami. More than half of Miami-Dade’s households are bringing in less income today than they were two years ago when the pandemic arrived. More than a quarter went without needed medical care. And more people fear being unable to pay rent than having a family member catch COVID.

Unemployment double punch:The state has no idea how much it overpaid in non-fraudulent unemployment claims distributed to unwary Floridians during the first 18 months of the pandemic. But now it is is trying to claw back possibly billions of dollars from thousands of people who inadvertently got overpaid with the state’s broken claims system was distributing the money.

Shielding redistricting data?Two University of Florida political science professors, who were involved in helping uncover the Florida Legislature’s redistricting scandal a decade ago, are accusing Republican leaders this time of using outside contracts to intentionally shield redistricting data and mapping details from the public. Data compiled for the state House and Senate will only be available for use in the state’s mapping portal, the contracts assert, and not for exporting to other sites by organizations attempting to provide a check on legislative gerrymandering. Legislators deny they are attempting to shield anything.

DeSantis withholds election: Residents in districts held by three Black, Democratic state lawmakers may not have any representation going into the 2022 Legislative session that begins Jan. 11. The former legislators, Rep. Bobby DuBose and Sen. Perry Thurston of Broward County, and Rep. Omari Hardy of Palm Beach County, resigned to run for a vacancy created by the death of U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to call for special elections for each of their predominantly Black districts. That’s the longest time lapse in decades, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Drug addiction on the rise: State lawmakers are returning to Tallahassee to prepare for the 2022 legislative session at an inflection point of the opioid crisis. Flush with federal cash from lawsuits and pandemic relief aid, they must decide how to address the rush in demand for treatment as drug addiction and overdoses accelerated during the pandemic.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Olive branch and exit lights:Embattled Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo faced the inferno and admitted to some mistakes last week, trying to repair his damaged relationship with several city commissioners. But multiple sources told the Herald that city staff is already working on an exit plan for Acevedo, while others insist the decision to drop the ax hasn’t been made yet.

Where is Francis?Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is staying mostly silent as city hall is roiling in tensions over his hand-picked police chief. Suarez is running for reelection to the weak-mayor post, but is facing scant opposition, raising questions about his handling of the conflict.

Labor secretary in waiting:José Javier Rodríguez, a former state senator who lost his reelection bid last year by 34 votes in a race tainted by the presence of a sham candidate with the same surname, appeared to get the nod of a U.S. Senate committee last week as he awaits confirmation for his nomination by President Joe Biden as an assistant labor secretary.

Trump picks Bovo:Former President Donald Trump did something very Florida last week. He made an endorsement in the Hialeah mayors race. Trump, who won the support of two-thirds of Hialeah voters last November, backed Esteban ‘Steve’ Bovo over fellow GOP Cuban Isis Garcia-Martinez.

Casey DeSantis cancer diagnosis: The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced last week that First Lady Casey DeSantis has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s 41 years old, the governor’s closest political adviser, and the mother of the couple’s three young children. The governor called his wife: “a true fighter” who will “never, never, never give up.” The governor’s office did not release details on the stage of the first lady’s cancer, or where she planned to be treated.

Bar exam bound:Desmond Meade, a former felon and one of the architects of the 2018 constitutional amendment that restored voting rights to many Floridians with felony convictions, announced Saturday that he has finally had his rights restored. Although Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet denied Meade a pardon earlier this year, the amendment prompted them to approve a new state clemency process. The state now automatically restores the right to hold office and serve on a jury for Floridians with felony convictions who completed their sentence and paid off their court debts. Meade, who has a law degree, can now take the bar exam and become a licensed lawyer.

Stay well and we’d love to hear from you. Miami Herald Capitol Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas curates the Politics and Policy in the Sunshine State newsletter. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please drop me a note at meklas@miamiherald.com.

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