ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Members of the Orange County School Board say they’re holding firm in the face of penalties from the state for not giving parents a universal opt out from the district's mask mandate.

What You Need To Know

  •  Orange County Public Schools currently has a mask mandate that does not allow parents to opt out unless they have a doctor's note

  •  The Florida Board of Education voted Thursday to withhold funds from Orange and seven other counties over their mask mandates

  • The FBOE claims the districts are breaking the law by not allowing parents the ability to opt out of the mandate for any reason

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order earlier in the year that bans school districts from implementing mask mandates that don't allow parents to unilaterally opt out.

Edgewater High School teacher Ashley Modesto said she was unhappy to see the Florida Board of Education sanction the district she works for. 

“I was disappointed, very very disappointed to see that," she said. 

The state is taking away a month’s worth of board member salaries and any money equal to federal grants the district receives to make up for lost state funds.

But Modesto said they’re already used to getting funding taken away by the state.

“We can’t be threatened with not receiving money because we’re already used to not having any money anyways,” she said. 

School board members will be losing a month’s worth of their $47,000/year salary.

Spectrum News reached to them to get their reaction to the state docking their pay.

“The loss of my salary is irrelevant when it comes to the safety of our children and community,” said District 7 board member Melissa Byrd.

“While that will make it harder to pay my bills … at least I’ll sleep well at night knowing that we saved lives and prevented additional suffering," said District 6 board member Karen Castor Dentel.

Other board members didn't respond. 

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said Thursday the other part of that penalty is to make sure school districts can’t get around fines with federal dollars.

But OCPS officials said they haven’t received any project SAFE funds from the federal government, so that part of the penalty does not currently apply to them.

Modesto said that although the sacrifice might be small for the district, she's proud that they're standing firm in the face of pressure from DeSantis and the state Board of Education. 

“I definitely believe that our school board and our superintendent are making the right decision, the decision that is in the best interest, not only for our students and their families, but also for the educators, the education support personnel, the administrators, all across the board,” she said.