Photo: AFP
School Board members in one of eight districts facing funding cuts by the state over their unlawful mask mandates say they won't budge.
Palm Beach County School Board Chairman Frank Barbieri is speaking out a day after the Board of Education's ruling was handed down.
"Until we believe that we can safely remove those masks and keep everyone safe, I don't believe there's anything the state can do to us to make us do that."
He claims the restrictive mandate in Palm Beach schools is the right thing to do for the safety of students and staff.
"It's kind of unfair for the governor to take away our salaries because we are doing the jobs that we were elected to do."
Palm Beach Schools are set to lose around $27,000 a month.
The state wants the funding taken from the salaries of school board members, but a school district official tells CBS 12 that they are working on a plan to take the money from reserve funds or federal pandemic funds instead.
Palm Beach, along with Leon, Duval, Alachua, Brevard, Orange, Broward and Miami Dade, were each given 48 hours to come into compliance.