Des Moines Register: “Hundreds of thousands of dollars are at stake for a suburban Des Moines school district Friday if incensed parents follow through with a plan to artificially lower the district’s enrollment numbers. Ankeny School District families angry over a new mask mandate are threatening to unenroll their children from school ahead of the state’s Oct. 1 student count date.”
“The number of students enrolled in a district on that date helps set funding levels for the next school year. As part of the plan, some parents would then re-enroll their children on Oct. 2, effectively forcing the district to educate their children with less money. The Ankeny School Board approved a mask mandate 5-2 last week that requires people to wear masks while inside school buildings. The move came after Federal Judge Robert Pratt issued a temporary restraining order on a state law that bans school districts from implementing mask mandates earlier this month.”