Mask Mandates in Missouri Schools: The Republican Party’s Hypocrisy Over Local Control
Children returning to school wearing mandated face masks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Allison Shelley.
Since their individual foundings in the United States some one and a half centuries ago, the Democratic and Republican parties have evolved considerably, adopting and shedding different voter bases, coalitions, and ideologies, oftentimes outright swapping those characteristics with each other. In our modern political society, however, those ideologies have been temporarily settled along party lines: Democrats now advocate for a larger government presence with socially and fiscally liberal policies, while Republicans claim to adhere to a conservative, small government platform. It is the latter faction’s approach that has been called into question recently as the Republican Party begins to stray from its self-proclaimed principles.
To be fair, the central ethos of conservatism is undeniably compelling: national, one-size-fits-all policies are too rigid to fulfill the particular needs of individual communities and thus, it should be left up to those very communities to decide for themselves what they want. Unfortunately, the modern-day Republican party has completely reversed itself from this ideology by which it claims to govern. Instead, it can now be found arguing for the exact policies it purports to loathe with members resorting to political violence in the form of bans and lawsuits if they don’t get their way. One of the more problematic examples of this has been mask mandates in public schools, a perplexingly contentious issue stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In theory, health restrictions should be the exact issue that Republicans would have success in advancing a conservative approach. Some regions have been hit much harder than others, meaning they would benefit from far more restrictive measures. Connecticut, for instance, has recently seen significantly fewer cases than Montana and might not need strict lockdowns or excessive mask mandates.
Instead of embracing that perspective, however, Republicans have continued shifting the goalpost for who the ultimate arbiter of decisions should be: first arguing for state control, then for local control, and then for family control. In reality, and setting aside the obvious issues with deputizing family units as medical experts, this shifting of the goalpost is enforced by the very government regulation at which an actual conservative would scoff.
Before examining just how drastically Republicans have turned themselves around, however, it is important to first put to rest any notion that masking and other measures don’t work. According to the most exhaustive peer-reviewed meta-analyses conducted by organizations like the Journal of the American Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Oxford University, masks — among other benefits — reduce the number of people an individual with COVID-19 infects to below one percent and reduce the transmission of exhaled droplets from infected individuals by around 50 percent to 70 percent. Overall, this decreases infection by 30 percent, even in the most pessimistic scenarios. In schools, the science is even clearer. CDC studies prove conclusively that school districts without mask requirements see COVID-19 case rates twice as high compared to those with mask requirements and are 3.5 times more likely to have a COVID-19 outbreak.
Given these statistics, it is a little embarrassing that health measures backed by these studies are being discussed in a political context. Such facts should not garner this kind of debate, nor should they have to suffer the humiliation of pretending that they have opposing sides. As schools begin to open their doors, close down online learning apparatuses, and force students into close contact with each other, preventative measures like masking are crucial. This is especially true for children younger than 12 who have yet to be authorized to receive the COVID vaccine and immunocompromised children who simply cannot be vaccinated.
Unfortunately, my home state of Missouri has failed to align science with its politics. Leading Republican politicians have been obsessively intent on eliminating any sort of mask mandate within their borders, placing themselves squarely on the wrong side of medical science and facts. Unable to force its restrictions on private businesses, the state has instead sought to control the behavior of the public institutions that it funds.
Seeking to make it appear as if they will not institute a broad and ill-fitting mandate, state Republicans have not banned mask mandates outright. Instead, they have worked to punish school districts that step out of line. Essentially, Republicans tell local schools that they can do whatever they want as long as the state government agrees with those actions, an approach wholly inconsistent with the ideals of conservatism. Case in point, as the new academic year started, Eric Schmitt, the Missouri state Attorney General, sued the Columbia Public Schools for their mask mandates, using deceptively conservative-sounding rhetoric as he argued that “parents have the right and the responsibility to make healthcare decisions for their minor children.” Schmitt later attempted to expand his lawsuit to cover all public school districts with mask mandates in Missouri, a number of at least 50.
This is not an isolated incident either. Rather, it is part of a broader trend of eroding local control over educational decision-making. In the past six years alone, Missouri has forced school districts to move their start dates back over local objections, sought to preemptively prohibit the teaching of Critical Race Theory despite only one district currently including it in their curriculum, and refused to allow school districts to partner with local transportation systems after they only funded — on average — 17 percent of the legally mandated 75 percent of each district’s transportation budget, even in the face of massive bus driver shortages due to COVID-19. These examples are only a selection from among too many others to name.
What is particularly egregious about their actions, however, is that in each of these cases, Republicans have masqueraded as if they are on the side of individual choice and small government. Their public statements and cries for “family control” might say one thing, but when it comes to their political agendas, the proof is in the pudding. Rather than truly fighting for de jure control, the Republican party is fiercely protective of local rights as long as localities do not use them to pursue the “wrong” goals. The result is Republicans doing wrong by local agency, wrong by scientific facts, and wrong by the alleged ideals of their own party. And that’s just not right.
Though born in Oakland, California, Isaac Stiepleman (CC ‘25) was raised in Columbia, Missouri and is likely pursuing a dual major in Political Science-Statistics. You can find him tossing a frisbee on Butler Lawns or on Low Steps, trying in vain to convert his friends to Cardinals fans.