SE Illinois News

State Sen. and gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) has voiced support for the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR)'s decision regarding the state's school mask mandates.

On Sept. 15, JCAR held a hearing to consider the appropriateness of the Illinois State Board of Education's (ISBE) order to schools to mandate masks or lose their recognition status, according to Center Square. 

Ten of the 12 committee members approved a resolution that told ISBE to put its guidance and policies into rule form, and to clarify the process used to revoke school recognition.

"Today's JCAR hearing is a victory and a first step in reining in an out-of-control Governor and his unelected board of bureaucrats," Bailey wrote in a Sept. 14 Twitter post. "Pritzker and ISBE have been acting outside their authority regarding the recognition status of public and private schools."

In a statement attached to the tweet, Bailey had a little more to say than he could fit in the 280 character limit imposed by Twitter.

"The statutes are clear when it comes to this process, and JCAR seems to agree the Pritzker administration is acting outside its authority," Bailey wrote in his statement. "It’s time for Pritzker to start engaging the people and the legislature and stop overstepping his authority by unilaterally shutting down schools, businesses, churches, and more. It’s time to restore common sense and local control across the state. COVID is something we should take seriously, but a Governor unilaterally trying to shut down and control our people and our state is also something we must take  seriously."

This is not the first time that Bailey has spoken out against ISBE's sanctions over masks. In July, Bailey sent a letter to ISBE after a school in his district received a letter threatening sanctions, according to East Central Reporter.

"The Illinois State Board of Education has made threats against one of the school districts I represent due to the decisions made by the locally elected school board, which is charged with making these decisions, and when I read the letter, I took that personally," Bailey wrote in his letter to ISBE Chief Education Officer Dr. Ernesto Matias. "Having served 17 years on the North Clay School Board and as a state legislator, I know the authority to make this decision is currently at the local level and should remain at the local level."

The Rockford Sun reported that there are currently 47 Illinois districts at risk of having state funding cut off for defying Gov. J.B. Pritzker's school mask mandate.

Pritzker defends his mask mandates out of concern for containing the spread of COVID-19.