Bright and early Monday morning, seven school districts filed a joint lawsuit to challenge whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin's Executive Order No. 2 is constitutional.
Youngkin released the order shortly after he was inaugurated earlier this month, and the order gives parents the right to decide whether their children will wear a mask in schools and prohibiting school systems from forcing those children to wear masks. It also rescinds an earlier executive order by former Gov. Ralph Northam and instructs schools to improve air quality in school buildings.
The seven school districts filing the suit are Arlington County, Fairfax County, Prince William County and the cities of Richmond, Falls Church, Hampton and Alexandria. Together, the school districts represent more than 350,000 students in Virginia.
"At issue is whether locally elected school boards have the exclusive authority and responsibility conferred upon them by Article VIII, § 7 of the Constitution of Virginia over supervision of the public schools in their respective communities, or whether an executive order can unilaterally override that constitutional authority," officials from the school districts explained in a press release.
"Also at issue is whether a governor can, through executive order, without legislative action by the Virginia General Assembly, reverse a lawfully-adopted statute. In this case, Senate Bill 1303, adopted with the goal of returning students to safe in-person instruction five days a week in March 2021 and still legally in effect, provides that local school boards should follow The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health and safety requirements," according to the release.
