Two months ago, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went on the conservative propaganda circuit to boast how he was the Tough Man Against Masks by withholding state funds from school districts mandating students to wear masks during the pandemic.
Well, according to CNN, now DeSantis has caved and returned every dollar of the money withheld to the eight school districts that defied him: Alachua County, Brevard County, Broward County, Miami-Dade, Duval County, Leon County, Orange County and Palm Beach County.
The money wasn’t withheld from students, but instead was the state’s portion of local school board and administrators’ salaries. The total amount remitted to the school districts: $877,851. The transfers were done two weeks ago on November 29th, and the state made no announcement about its policy reversal.