A judge granted Rio Grande Valley school districts a temporary restraining order against Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday, blocking his ban on local COVID-19 restrictions from May.
The order comes a day after half a dozen Valley districts announced plans to take legal action against Abbott and mandate masks, with or without his approval.
They included the La Joya, Hidalgo, Edinburg, Brownsville, Edcouch-Elsa, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo and Lasara school districts.
They were joined at Friday’s hearing by other entities taking legal action against the governor and his order, including Crowley ISD, Harris County and some parents from the Austin area.
The school districts were represented by David Campbell with Austin-based law firm O’Hanlon, Demerath, & Castillo.
“We do not, my clients do not, want this school year to create superspreader events because we have in-person instruction,” Campbell said.
Campbell said that in addition to masks being a way to keep people safe, they’re a way for districts to better educate their students by preventing quarantine situations. He cited the delta variant, hospitalization rates and students too young to receive vaccines to underscore the gravity of the situation.
It’s odd, he said, that the governor was using emergency powers to prevent school districts from responding to a disaster.
“I mean judge, I’ve got four kids at home,” Campbell said. “Three of them are too young to be vaccinated. Three of them are in public schools. They don’t like wearing masks; no one does. But they’ve gotten used to it. It is a minor inconvenience to address a very serious risk.”
Todd Dickerson argued the entities suing the state don’t have the authority to mandate masks, and that there would be conflicts if they did.
“The statutes I was just referencing, that’s dealing with powers and responsibilities given to the governor that are not given to local officials, like county judges. Like city mayors. And they are certainly not given to school board members, who the Texas disaster act doesn’t contemplate,” he said.
Benjamin Dower, who also represented the state, noted that Abbott had not banned people wearing masks of their own volition.
“I just want to observe that people are still free to wear masks,” he said. “Many of the people who don’t wear masks are already vaccinated, and I recognize that in the context of school districts and children that may affect that analysis, but I’m really focused on Harris County Right now.”
State District Judge Jan Soifer granted the temporary restraining order, referencing the beginning of school being imminent and it being a “really difficult time in the pandemic.”
Attorneys in the case are expected to return to court sometime during the last full week in August.
Leadership from districts involved in the suit began reacting to the decision late Friday.
“The TRO that was granted today, will allow our students, staff, and community to effectively mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant,” Edcouch-Elsa Superintendent Greg Rodriguez wrote in a release. “We look forward to protecting our staff and students when they return to school.”
A release from Edinburg CISD hailed the ruling as a welcome decision.
“We should be able to have the liberty to enforce and mandate what we believe is best for our district, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s a great victory for everyone,” Edinburg Board President Mike Farias wrote.
