TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A judge in Tallahassee once again blocked Florida's ban on mask mandates in schools, lifting a stay that blocked his original ruling.

Last month Judge John C. Cooper ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis did not have the authority to stop school districts from making mask mandates.

But DeSantis appealed the ruling, which placed an automatic stay on that decision, allowing the state to continue to penalize school districts for requiring masks for the time being.

On Wednesday, Cooper lifted that stay, which means his original ruling stands and the state needs to stop penalizing school districts until Cooper's ruling is blocked by a higher court.

Cooper said that blocking the DeSantis administration from penalizing districts won't do any harm.

Lawyers for the administration argued it would directly impact parents who don't want their kids to be masked.

Right now the state is withholding funding from two school districts, Alachua and Broward counties, and investigating several others. But Cooper's decision to lift the stay means that can't happen anymore.

"I don’t know of any case, and I’ve not had one pointed out to me, where a court had to deal with a nondisputed pandemic situation with threats to young children who had, at least based on the evidence, arguably, have no way to avoid this except to stay home and isolate themselves. I think everybody agrees that’s not good for them," Cooper said.

The state appellate court, which is much more ideologically conservative, is expected to take the case in a matter of days.

DeSantis thinks the court will side with the state.

"No surprise here that Judge Cooper concluded that he is unlikely to be overruled on appeal," said Taryn Fenske, DeSantis' communications director. "We (unsurprisingly) disagree. Today we plan to file our emergency motion to reinstate the stay, and we anticipate the appellate court will rule quickly, much like during the school re-opening case last year."