‘There need to be exemptions.’
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Attorney General James Uthmeier says his Office decided to threaten Catholic schools with a loss of voucher and scholarship money due to their vaccine mandates because people demanded it.
“Where there are vaccine mandates, there need to be exemptions for those things unless it’s going to violate that school’s religious teaching. The challenge that was raised to our office. We had hundreds, probably thousands, of complaints at this point,” he said in Panama City.
“A lot of Catholic families were expressing that it violated their religion to take some of these vaccines. And ironically, the Catholic schools were not granting any exemptions for religion or health. You know, parents want to send their kids with vaccines. Great, that’s their right. We believe in parental rights here in Florida. But some of these vaccines have been tied to aborted fetal lines. There are other religious objections.”
Uthmeier noted, as he did in his letter to the state’s Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, that the lack of religious exemptions violated Florida Statutes 1003.22(3).
A practicing Catholic himself, Uthmeier noted that there is variance among even outposts of the apostolic faith regarding vaccinations.
“I think the Catholic schools have been inconsistent around the country. A lot of them are doing exemptions, and then some in Florida are not, and we need to understand why,” Uthmeier said.
“If there’s a legitimate religious teaching that prevents giving out these exemptions, then obviously the state should respect that. But where you have a lot of Catholic dioceses around the country respecting the religious beliefs of students — some that are Catholic, some that are not — that should be followed here in Florida too.”
A representative of the Bishops said last week that a response was being prepared.
“Be assured, Florida’s Catholic schools are operating in accord with the law and Church teaching,” wrote Michelle Taylor on Friday.
Taylor did not respond Tuesday to a request for an update.
Revenue that the Church relies on is at stake if they don’t comply with the AG, via the potential forfeiture of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO) and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA).
The first two offer an $8,000 a year taxpayer stipend. The latter can be up to $36,000 a year.
Of the nearly 95,000 students in Catholic schools last year, the vast majority are on scholarship, with some estimates being as high as 95%. Nearly 14,000 students received the more lucrative FES-UA.
School webpages frame vaccine policy as lawful even after the AG’s letter, as exemplified by Orlando’s “Blessed Trinity.”
“Catholic Schools within the Diocese of Orlando require enrolling students to submit a Florida Department of Health Certificate of Immunization as provided for in Florida Statute 1003.22 as a condition precedent to acceptance. Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Orlando do not recognize a religious objection to this immunization.”
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