The bill seeks to prevent schools from mandating masks. | Marcos Cola/Pixabay
The bill seeks to prevent schools from mandating masks. | Marcos Cola/Pixabay
A Georgia Senate bill introduced on Valentine's Day would prevent public schools from making or enforcing rules requiring students to wear face masks while on school property.
The bill is designed to give parents of students the right to choose whether their children wear masks at school, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. Georgia Sen. Clint Dixon, Gov. Brian Kemp's floor leader, introduced the bill on Feb. 14.
"Parents know how best to care for their children, and that includes decisions around masking," Kemp said on Facebook. "Today, we introduced the 'Unmask Georgia Students Act' to ensure parents have the final say on whether their child must wear a mask at school."
Under the bill, rules requiring masks on school property would be prohibited unless the rules give students' parents or guardians ways to opt out. Parents electing to be exempt from the rules don't have to provide reasons.
"As we enter the third year of facing COVID-19, it is past time for a return to normal and for decisions regarding protection against the virus to be made by individual Georgians and their families — not the government," Kemp, who is running for a second term in 2022, said in a press release.
In an executive order on May 28, 2021, Kemp said that although he declared a state of emergency, local school districts cannot use the declaration as a basis for creating or enforcing mask mandates.
Approximately 45 Georgia school districts have at least one school with a mask mandate, Kemp said.
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