Ryan Dailey / News Service of Florida

A Miami-Dade County circuit judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against FIU that seeks refunds of fees collected from students when the school’s campus was shut down in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A standoff between Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration and federal education officials about student mask requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended after school districts nixed mask mandates.

Calling the actions “disrespectful,” the University of Florida Board of Trustees on Friday united in a strongly worded rebuke of professors who criticized the school’s decision to block faculty members from testifying as expert witnesses in a high-profile voting rights lawsuit.

In a letter to University of Florida President Kent Fuchs on Thursday, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said the panel has opened a probe into the policy, saying it “undermines the academic and free speech values that are essential” to higher education.

Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran received authorization from the state Board of Education to sue the U.S. Department of Education for intervening in the state’s punishment of school districts. Tuesday’s decision by the state board was the latest development in a feud with the federal government that has been brewing since the beginning of the school year.

As a special legislative session called by Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off Monday, House and Senate Democrats blasted measures being considered by the Republican-controlled Legislature as “political theater” designed to enhance the governor’s political ambitions.

The accrediting organization for the University of Florida has taken preliminary steps that could lead to a probe into whether the university faces “non-compliance issues” over its decision to block three professors from serving as expert witnesses in a high-profile voting rights lawsuit.

President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday warned top Florida education officials to “reconsider your threatened actions” after the state said it would try to thwart attempts to use federal money to cover salaries of county school-board members who approved student mask requirements.

An administrative law judge will have up to two weeks to issue a decision after a hearing ended Friday in a challenge by six school boards to a state Department of Health rule designed to prevent student mask requirements.

The challenge was filed by school boards in Alachua, Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Orange, and Leon counties. The six school boards are among eight boards that face state financial penalties after enacting student mask requirements. The penalties target school board members’ salaries.

The State Board of Education will meet Thursday and is considering disciplinary action against 11 school boards that set student mask mandates to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The districts targeted for potential penalties are Alachua, Brevard, Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Leon, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota counties.

The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday that it has provided nearly $150,000 to the Alachua County School Board to cover a state penalty targeting board members’ salaries.