FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday didn't mince words he had for local school leaders who refuse to extend mask requirements, accusing them of endangering children at a time the coronavirus is raging.

While more than 80% of Kentucky school districts have decided to continue requiring mask in schools, at least two school systems chose to make facial coverings optional in schools.

Beshear had a strongly worded message for districts refusing to mandate masks.

“If you are a school district that is not requiring universal masking, you are directly endangering the children, the staff ... everybody who is in each of your buildings,” Beshear said at a news conference. “And it is an inexcusable decision. Every single public health agency, every one, has said that universal masking is the only way to keep kids in school.”

You can watch Thursday's Team Kentucky update here.

Kentucky has become a national virus hotspot with one of the highest rates of new cases of COVID-19 as the highly contagious delta variant has caused surging hospitalizations among virus patients. School-age children have been contracting the virus at a higher rate than any other age group in Kentucky, while the statewide vaccination rate among 12- to 17-year-olds is the lowest of any age group.

The Republican-dominated legislature last week shifted masking decisions to local school boards.

By midday Thursday, 138 of the state’s 171 public school districts had decided to continue requiring masks in schools, according to the Kentucky School Boards Association.

At least two exceptions are the Science Hill Independent and Gallatin County school districts. Both rural districts will allow parents to decide whether their children wear masks in schools. School employees will have the same choice.

“Nobody knows their kids better than the parents,” Science Hill Superintendent Jimmy Dyehouse said in a phone interview Thursday. “So that’s why we feel that it’s most important to let them make that decision.”

Last month, Dyehouse called Beshear a “liberal lunatic” after the governor ordered mask-wearing in schools to combat the surge of the deadly virus.

The legislature scrapped a statewide mask mandate for public schools and imposed a ban on any statewide mask rules until June 2023. A separate statewide mask mandate approved by the state school board ends Friday.

In the Science Hill district, unvaccinated district employees are being encouraged to wear masks, he said. About 85% of the district’s staff members have received the COVID-19 shots, he said. Dyehouse predicted that most students won’t wear masks, based on what he’s heard from parents.

“We realize how serious this is and how it can be contagious, but masking kids in school is doing more harm, we feel,” Dyehouse said. “Our board and myself and my parents in this community feel like it’s doing more harm than good.”

Beshear, a former state attorney general, warned about potential liability issues for school districts that refuse to require masks in schools.

“Anyone who is making those decisions is facing huge personal liability in the future,” the governor said. “Because once they make a decision that is against all science, that is against all evidence, that is against all advice and somebody gets hurt, they ought to expect to pay, one way or another.”

The Gallatin County district decided masks will be optional but recommended for students. The district is in a hospital region where intensive care units are full, according to the state.