What was the point of Virginia’s Aug. 13 public health emergency declaration on masks in schools if, as Gov. Ralph Northam asserted a week earlier, school districts were already required by existing law to follow federal guidelines requiring masks for children as little as two years old? Unfortunately the Virginia health commissioner doesn’t tell us in his order, but the text points to the reason: because it includes private schools where the law does not.
Where the Virginia General Assembly sought to force public schools to follow the lead of private schools and return to in-person instruction, Northam has turned that logic on its head and is now forcing private schools to bend to his will. This is a direct threat to the independence of private schools and the freedom of religion that must be answered.
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