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Schmitt’s campaign stunts make public pay for both mask lawsuits and schools’ defense

The top Democrat in Missouri’s House of Representatives says state lawmakers should have to reimburse school districts for the money they’re being forced to spend in defending themselves against the many frivolous mask lawsuits being brought by the state attorney general. Republican Eric Schmitt recently filed lawsuits against 45 school districts that have required masks as the omicron coronavirus surged.

Crystal Quade, a Democrat from Springfield, said in a statement Wednesday: “Local public school budgets are already stretched thin because of the pandemic. They shouldn’t have to foot the bill for Eric Schmitt’s shameful campaign stunts.”

She’s right; these suits have no purpose other than to win the Republican nomination for Schmitt in his U.S. Senate race against disgraced former Gov. Eric Greitens. And since when do Missouri’s public schools have to absorb campaign costs?

If the cost of these stunt suits fell back on lawmakers, maybe then they would call for Schmitt to stop wasting taxpayer dollars by suing 45 Missouri school districts. Tort reform, anyone?

As it stands, Schmitt is sticking it to taxpayers coming and going. The public pays his office, which is bringing the lawsuits. Then the public has to pay for school districts to defend against those same lawsuits.

“It is not about safety first for kids,” said Kenny Southwick, executive director of the Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City. A dozen of the districts being sued are in the Kansas City area.

His districts weren’t even given the courtesy of being told of the lawsuits, Southwick said.

Instead they had to read about them through the attorney general’s tweets, since it’s on Twitter that Schmitt has been courting anti-mask voters. In post after post, he claims it’s illegal for school boards to mandate masks, and that masks are ineffective. Never mind that school boards are elected to set policy to best educate and protect students. Never mind that we’ve known for more than a century that masks absolutely do help reduce virus spread.

So far, public charter schools have escaped the barrage of lawsuits. That’s probably by design. since Missouri Republicans have long sought expansion of charter schools as part of their push for school choice. That crusade also undermines public school districts by drawing students — and the public funding that follows them — away from districts.

That, and Schmitt’s lawsuit antics, fall in line with other attacks on public education by Republican-led state legislatures. In the past year, public schools at all levels have been targeted in more than 100 bills in 33 states that limit what is taught and how.

And according to PEN America, a free speech advocacy group that has been tracking these bills for more than a year, Missouri leads the pack, with 19 such “education gag bills,” including one that would block teaching about racism or sexism.

Quade’s House Bill 2569 mirrors Missouri Sen. Doug Beck’s Senate Bill 922.

“The attorney general is abusing the powers of his office to stop schools from keeping kids and teachers safe,” Beck said in a statement.

The pandemic has hit schools hard. After shutting down and going to online learning for a year, schools now struggle to keep kids in class as the highly contagious COVID-19 omicron variant decimates staff. No one wants to see schools close. All the research says kids learn best in person.

School officials should not be punished for trying to help children stay safe in class. And the public should not be left to pay for actions that only promote the attorney general’s latest political quest.