Tennessee Gov Orders Mask Opt-Out For Students

The Tennessean reports:

Gov. Bill Lee on Monday announced he is issuing an executive order requiring schools to allow parents to exempt their children from mask mandates, a decision that follows an outcry from some conservative legislators over districts’ masking policies for students.

While the governor’s new Executive Order 84 addresses a key concern raised by many House and some Senate Republicans, he is not granting a request by House Speaker Cameron Sexton to call the legislature back for a special session.

A major component of Sexton’s plans for a special session was seeking to pass legislation to offer “school choice” for parents whose children are in public schools with mask requirements, which would amount to a voucher program to allow students to attend private schools using taxpayer funds.

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