My readers may recall my blog about Judge Cooper’s oral order of August 27, 2021 prohibiting the Florida Department of Health from penalizing the school districts that enforced no-parental exception to school masking mandates. The written judgment was ultimately issued on Thursday, September 2, 2021, but not before Governor DeSantis authorized the withholding of a month’s worth of funding to schools in Alachua and Broward counties. In a breathtaking act of defiance of the rule of law, the school funding was cut on Monday, August, 30, 2021—3 days before the official written judgment was handed down—in spite of the oral decision of the court on August 27, 2021.

The Department of Health and other Defendants filed an appeal the same day the judgment was entered, which automatically put a hold on enforcement on the judgment that would stop further funding penalties. The parents filed an Emergency Motion to Vacate the Automatic Stay. In other words, the parents who filed the suit wanted to make sure that, just because the judgment was being challenged, the funding cuts could not continue during the time the appeal was pending.

Judge Cooper held a hearing on the Emergency Motion this morning, and orally granted it, indicating a written order would follow later today. (9/9/21 Update: The Order has since been issued and can be accessed by clicking here.) This means that the judgment will be enforced unless and until the First District Court of Appeal decides to overturn the September 2nd decision.

Take home message: The Department of Health cannot penalize the school districts that have enacted mandatory school masking policies. It remains to be seen whether the Alachua county and Broward county schools will have their money refunded in time for school staff to pay rent.