The Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education voted yesterday to order the Department of Education not to approve any back-to-school plans that don’t include mask mandates, as the delta variant continues to spread in Rhode Island.

According to CBS 12 in Providence, the vote appeared to be in conflict with advice from a Rhode Island Department of Education lawyer, Anthony Cottone, who told the council moments earlier that the department does not have the authority to mandate masks in school districts statewide. The authority, he said, lies with the legislature by statute or gov. Dan McKee by executive order. Multiple council members expressed a desire to mandate masks anyway, which Cottone said may result in legal action from a school district that does not want to require masks.