LEXINGTON, Ky. — Fayette County Public Schools board of education members voted Monday to keep the district's mask mandate in place. The vote came after the Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill last week removing the statewide mask mandate in schools. 

The vote means students and staff must wear masks indoors and on buses regardless of their vaccination status.

According to the Kentucky School Boards Association, 46% of Kentucky's 171 school districts have announced they will continue to require all students, staff and visitors to wear masks after Senate Bill 1 goes into effect on Friday and officially eleminates the statewide mask mandate. 

On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear said school-age children are contracting COVID-19 at a higher rate than any other age group in Kentucky. He urged newly empowered school districts to maintain mask requirements.

The statewide vaccination rate among youngsters ages 12 to 17 is the lowest of any group, with 45% having received at least one dose. 

“There is one right answer — where you choose masking, where you protect your kids, where you keep them in school,” Beshear said at a Monday news conference. “And then there is one wrong decision, where you endanger children and you allow COVID to spread throughout your community when your hospital is already overburdened.”

Supporters of ending the statewide school mask requirement said those decisions are best left to local school boards, to reflect the will of their communities. They said they have confidence in the ability of local school leaders to set those rules.