The Illinois State Board of Education might have overstepped its authority by yanking recognition of schools that defied a statewide mask mandate. State lawmakers have asked the board to clarify those rules.

A state lawmaker has asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker for the metrics needed to drop statewide mask mandates. He also called for public hearings on masking harms to student development, others in Illinois.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced all Illinoisans age 2 and up are required to wear masks inside public spaces effective Aug. 30. All school and health care workers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 5, as must college students.

Timothy Christian Schools tried to keep their mask-optional policy despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide school mask mandate. The state quickly stripped the schools of their recognition, crippling their high school seniors as they started college applications. Masks are now on.

2021’s Illinois State Fair will require all visitors to wear masks indoors and prove vaccination or a negative test to enter certain venues.

Illinois public health administrators joined the CDC’s calls for masks in all elementary and high schools, although school districts have the final say. They recommend most Illinoisans, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, should be masking in indoor public spaces.

Chicago Public Schools will require all students and staff to wear masks inside school buildings this fall. CPS’s mask mandate ignored the CDC’s COVID-19 guidelines that advise masking indoors only for unvaccinated people.