Virginia’s new Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, is taking the debate over mask mandates in schools to the Washington suburbs that are home to much of the capital’s power elite. In doing so, he gives new life to an issue that has shadowed the attempt to reopen schools, which has been frustrated by the Delta and Omicron variants of the coronavirus.
Elementary school students in Centreville, Va. (Kenny Holston/Getty Images)
Last fall, Republican governors threatened districts over funding, forcing the federal government to step in and offer assistance. It is not yet clear how Youngkin will respond to districts that say they will continue to enforce masking mandates, despite an executive order