BREAKING: Republican Governor Of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, Has Officially Signed A Law That Will End Mask Mandates For Schools

It was reported by Newsmax that after weeks of legal challenges and school board hand-wringing, GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a newly passed bill into Virginia law, which codifies his executive order to make face masks in public schools optional for kids and parents.

“Children have not only suffered learning loss, but they have also suffered relationship loss,” Youngkin said at his bill-signing Wednesday.

“Now is our chance to give all parents the rights to make decisions we know they have, to put it into law.

“Today, we are establishing and restoring power back to parents.

But we are also reestablishing our expectations that we will get back to normal, and this is the path.”

The Virginia House passed Senate Bill 739 on party lines 52-48, and Youngkin wasted no time signing it into law.

Virginia counties and school boards had been challenging Youngkin’s executive order making masks in public schools optional for kids and parents, arguing the existing state law had language the schools should follow the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on masking.

Youngkin issued the masks-optional executive order his first day in office and he and GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares had faced legal objections since.

The Senate quickly moved to codify law as masks as optional in school and the House finalized the passage of the bill Wednesday.

Youngkin made choice a priority in his campaign for governor against former Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who campaigned to keep the authority over kids in school with the school boards.

Youngkin defeated McAuliffe in the gubernatorial election and was sworn into office in January.

It was further reported that it was called “a win for all Virginians,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday signed into law a long-promised ban on mask mandates in the commonwealth’s schools. The bill, SB739, allows parents to “elect for [their] child to not wear a mask while on school property,” regardless of any COVID-19 protection mandates passed by local school boards or issued by state agencies.

At the signing ceremony in Richmond, Youngkin said of the move, “We are reaffirming the rights that we know all parents have,” citing “parents’ rights to make decisions for their children.”

Also speaking at the signing ceremony, student Breonna McAllister said that though “My teacher been there to help … it is hard to breathe in [a] mask. It’s hard to hear my teacher and it has been hard to connect and make friends.”