CHICAGO—The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has punished 37 public school districts with a total enrollment of nearly 30,000 students as of Aug. 23 for not following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school mask mandate, according to ISBE records.
The schools have been placed on probation. If they don’t conform to the mask mandate within two months, they will be unrecognized by ISBE, lose state funding, and can’t take part in certain statewide athletic competitions, according to a letter sent to district superintendents from Illinois State Superintendent of Education Carmen I. Ayala.
