Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced Friday the state would withhold state funds from two school districts that issued mask mandates to protect students and faculty: Broward and Alachua public schools.

The state Board of Education, handpicked by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, voted earlier this week to take punitive action against school districts that defied the governor’s mask mandate ban. The state board is reportedly targeting the salaries of school board members and other officials in Broward and Alachua—the first districts in the state to mandate masks. Officials in those two districts could start losing their salaries as soon as next week if they don’t reverse course on their masking policies. Broward is the second-largest school district the state (only Miami-Dade is larger) and sixth-largest in the country, serving some 370,000 students, according to its website.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden vowed to stand with schools and educators working to protect kids, adding that existing federal pandemic funds could “100%” be used to compensate them. 

“If a governor wants to cut the pay of a hardworking education leader who requires masks in the classroom, the money from the American Rescue Plan can be used to pay that person’s salary — 100%,” Biden said during a press conference at the White House.

Biden has also instructed the Department of Education to take punitive action against governors who ban in-school mask mandates.

Leaders in both Broward and Alachua have remained steadfast in their commitment to following the science on masking and doing as much as possible to protect students while still providing in-school instruction.

This week, three other school districts joined Broward and Alachua in mandating in-school masking: Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Hillsborough public schools. 

Punishing school districts and local governments that mandate masks polls at a dismal 22%, with 77% of Americans opposing such action. But DeSantis is clearly desperate to tie up the GOP fringe vote—Florida students and their parents will simply have to pay the price for his political star to rise.