On Aug. 30, 2021, the US Department of Education (DOE) announced it would investigate Oklahoma, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. Why? These five states have statewide prohibitions on universal indoor masking, and the DOE believes every child in every school in America should wear a mask. They believe it so strongly that they are willing to push, punish, and pay their way to ensure their mask rule has universal adherence. So what can we expect from the DOE in their quest to see that schools require masking and certainly the upcoming vaccinations for 5-18-year-olds?

We can expect the DOE to accuse and subsequently sue schools and states that have ruled to leave the decision of whether or not to wear a mask up to the individual. To do this, they will weaponize their Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to investigate each state’s compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which is a federal law that protects students with disabilities from discrimination based on their disability. Included in this group is the right of students with disabilities to receive an education in the regular education environment, alongside their peers without disabilities. Any student with autoimmune disabilities has a right to sue a school district. The OCR has already begun to collect data from each state’s educational agency as a part of the direct investigations.

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We can expect the DOE to bypass any bill in any state that conflicts with their broad sweeping Roadmap Rescue Plan. It will reward any school district within the state they deem to be compliant with their objectives of mask mandates and vaccinations. They recently did exactly the same in Florida. The DoE announced they would bypass Florida Governor DeSantis’ executive order on no mask mandates and directly reward the two largest Florida counties of Alachua and Broward, which had defiantly issued universal mask mandates. On Sept. 9, 2021, the DoE announced new grant money specifically for school districts like Alachua and Broward that voted to enact mask mandates regardless of state laws.

The DoE will make all non-compliance issues with a state a civil rights issue and use their Office of Civil Rights to legally go after states and school districts that do not comply.

We can expect pressure to be put on the states which received grant money from the DOE’s American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER). Oklahoma’s plan was approved, and the remainder of their $1.4 billion grant was distributed in July 2021. The money does not come without strings, and the DOE will not hesitate to pull those strings anytime it sees the necessity of doing so, whether it be to enforce universal masking or universal vaccinations.

The DOE will continue to seek out and favor the larger, more liberal school districts that agree with the DOE’s policies. New grant programs will provide handsome sums of money to those districts.

To mask or not to mask is not a civil rights issue. The Department of Education is making it a civil rights issue to force states, schools, parents, and children to obey their agenda. The actual civil rights issue is their cry for equity which means if one wears a mask, all must wear a mask and use children who have medical conditions as pawns in this battle. As believers, when we see the massive overreach of the federal Department of Education, we should pray. If we don’t pray, we will continue to lose our freedoms and our children to a corrupt education system with no regard for God. This battle is not only about schools, but it’s a battle over our children and our freedoms.

About the Author: Nancy Huff is an educator with a mission to equip believers to pray strategically for the Cultural Mountain of Education. She has authored Taking the Mountain of Education: A Strategic Prayer Guide to Transform America’s Schools. She leads prayer groups to pray at key educational locations across the US. Currently, Nancy serves as the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network (HAPN) Lead Prayer Coordinator for the Mountain of Education. For additional information, go to: https://takingthemountainofeducation.com/author/nancyahuff/. Photo credit: Getty Images.