Governor Bill Lee said Monday he would not be calling a special session of the legislature to deal with the issues of parents who resist mask mandates for public school students in Tennessee, proposed or actual. Instead, he issued an executive order allowing parents who object to mask mandates to opt out of the mandates for their children.
The governor said his order would apply to mask mandates for children issued either by school districts or health authorities such as the Shelby County Health Department.
Lee was asked what would be the result if a school district or health authority defied the order.
“They’d be violating the law,” he answered, without elaborating.
Several Republican legislators had requested the governor to call a special session that might, among other remedies, offer private-school vouchers to parents faced with public-school mask mandates.
