Missouri school districts must reject mask mandates, quarantine orders and other measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic or lose access to the state’s credit enhancement program.
State Treasurer Scott Fitzgerald said districts must sign a letter confirming their compliance with an attorney general’s order following a court ruling that threw out many local health orders.
It’s a first-time mandate for districts seeking to use the state’s Bond Direct Deposit Program.
“We’ve never had a situation where multiple school districts are expressing an intent not to comply with the Attorney General’s interpretation of the law which has created a risk of litigation for those districts,” treasurer spokeswoman Mary Compton said in an email Friday.
As of Friday, eight schools had received certification forms. Four have signed the letters and four are pending.
“These schools received certification forms because their bond deals were scheduled to close after the Attorney General communicated with schools about the court decision and we were made aware of several schools which did not intend to comply with the order,” Compton said.
Fitzgerald, a Republican who’s entire Twitter biography is an endorsement from Tucker Carlson, has announced a run for state auditor in 2022.
His office says the threat to cut off access to the bond enhancement program is about due diligence given the attorney general’s legal threats.
Attorney General Eric Schmitt warned local health officials and school districts in a letter Dec. 7 of potential enforcement actions if they continued to enforce local health mandates tossed last month in a ruling from Cole County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Green in Robinson v. Missouri Dept. of Health and Senior Services.
The court declared unconstitutional the department’s regulations that allowed local health authorities to impose public health orders. Several St. Louis area residents and businesses filed the lawsuit.
Schmitt’s warning informed districts that “under this judgment, all mask mandates, quarantine orders, and other public health orders that are based on any of the invalidated regulations or issued outside the protections of the Missouri Administrative Procedure Act are null and void.
“You also should stop relying on, enforcing, or publicizing any such orders immediately. In addition, state law does not delegate authority to school officials to issue mask mandates, quarantine orders, or other public health orders,” Schmitt’s letter read.
The treasurer’s certification letter requires the signature of the district’s superintendent who must attest that the “district is compliant with the directives received from the Missouri Attorney General on December 7, 2021 relating to the enforcement of public health orders or will become compliant no later than December 23, 2021, and will remain compliant with said directives.”
The state enhancement program gives school district issuers AA-plus level ratings; the rating agencies rate the program one notch below Missouri’s triple-A ratings.
Participation by school districts in the bond direct deposit program is voluntary and the treasurer has discretion to determine whether or not to grant approval regarding these financial transactions, Compton said.
“Due diligence is always done in preparation for a financial transaction and the disclosure of pending or threatened investigations or litigation is a material consideration when making the determination whether to engage in a financial transaction with any party,” Compton said of the office’s decision to require the certification. “The Attorney General has made clear he intends to pursue litigation against school districts who fail to adhere to the directives in his letter.”
State lawmakers created the program in 1995. It’s administered through a state conduit issuer, the Missouri Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority, with guidelines laid out by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Under the program, state aid payments flow directly from the state to the bond trustee. “This procedure results in a credit rating on the program bonds based to a large extent on the credit quality of the state,” the guidelines say.
The authority this year has sold 169 issues totaling $1.38 billion, a record high for dollar amount and third highest for the number of issues. The 2021 borrowing levels are up from 92 issues totaling $574 million in 2020, according to executive director Michael Stanard.
“The program remains extremely popular. Nearly every school deal uses it except the small handful of MO school districts that are AAA rated and therefore don’t benefit from the program’s AA-plus rating,” Stanard said.
The new mandate puts districts in a tough spot if their boards support COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts, said one official who works with districts on the program.
Some legal advisors to schools have said they still have the power to impose some restrictions involving masks or to order quarantines under various other state regulations, board policies or federal policies, although the attorney general’s warning letter said they do not.
Almost 16,000 Missourians have died of COVID-19, with the count rising about 23 daily, according to data compiled by the New York Times.