Top Missouri House Democrat files bill to pay back schools for AG mask lawsuits
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri House's top Democrat said Wednesday that she plans to file legislation to pay back local school districts for legal expenses they incur defending themselves against mask lawsuits from the state attorney general.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade (D-Springfield) has attacked Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt's filing of lawsuits last week against 45 school districts that have required masks amid the omicron coronavirus surge. Two of those districts are in Mid-Missouri -- Columbia Public Schools and the Jefferson City School District. Each instituted a temporary mask mandate for students and staff as cases skyrocketed this month.
Quade and other critics have said Schmitt's aggressive legal stance on the issue is meant to win him voters in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate this summer.
“Local public school budgets are already stretched thin because the pandemic,” Quade said in a news release Wednesday. “They shouldn’t have to foot the bill for Eric Schmitt’s shameful campaign stunts.”
Quade's bill would require judges to award districts attorneys' fees, court costs and other expenses in such cases if the case ends in a districts' favor. The money would come from the attorney general's budget.
The lawsuit against Columbia Public Schools is the second that Schmitt filed against the district. His office dismissed a case filed last year after the district dropped its mask mandate. The school board approved the new mandate after omicron started driving record levels of new cases.
Schmitt has argued that schools don't have the power to institute health protections such as masks and that masks are ineffective. Districts have fired back in public statements saying they will rely on the advice of public health experts, who endorse the use of masks to reduce omicron's spread, to protect students. CPS also called the lawsuit a waste of resources.
State Sen. Doug Beck (D-Affton) filed a similar bill in December.
Republican lawmakers have also filed several bills that would limit schools, local governments and businesses from imposing health measures and vaccine requirements.
CPS has not responded to an inquiry about how much the district has paid related to Schmitt's lawsuit. JC Schools did not immediately respond to a request for that information Wednesday morning.
