After questioning ISBE representatives about their authority to revoke a school’s recognition status and withhold state funding for non-compliance with mask mandates, on Sept. 14 Senate Republicans who serve on the legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) joined other members of the panel in asking ISBE to place their policies for mask enforcement in administrative rule. Specifically, ISBE was asked to provide clarifying rules that outline processes the agency will utilize prior to the revocation of a school’s recognition status. ISBE was asked to update JCAR within 30 days.
As ISBE representatives were questioned and prior to the JCAR ruling, Kristen Kennedy, Deputy Legal Officer for ISBE, said the agency did not plan to participate in JCAR’s rulemaking process, and instead would rely on authority she believes exists through a court decision that found that executive orders for mask mandates at school were lawfully issued and are enforceable.