Advanced Placement African American studies will be offered in Georgia high schools with state funding, Superintendent Richard Woods said Tuesday, but some members of both political parties are still wondering why there was ever any question.

Woods, a Republican, said his reversal came after receiving a letter from Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, clarifying that , the state’s 2022 law banning so-called divisive concepts in the classroom, exempts AP, international baccalaureate and dual enrollment classes.

“Thus, any such course developed by its controlling entity will be automatically adopted within the state-approved course catalog. It will not have to receive a recommendation from either the State School Superintendent of Georgia or the Georgia State Board of Education. It will also not require a vote to approve or deny adoption into the state-approved course catalog,” Woods wrote in a .

“As I have said, I will follow the law. In compliance with this opinion, the AP African American Studies course will be added to the state-funded course catalog effective immediately,” he added.

Woods said all AP courses will now come with a disclaimer in the state course catalog stating that they were not vetted by the state and that districts need to obey the law.

The school year has already begun for many Georgia students, and some districts, including Atlanta Public Schools and Cobb County Schools, said they are offering the course like any other AP class.

Georgia’s largest school district, Gwinnett County, previously said it would not offer the class, but county superintendent Calvin Watts said Wednesday that schools will work with students who signed up for the course last spring to allow them to change their schedules to add the class.

“While this is a victory in many ways, the State Superintendent’s actions caused undue burden on our schools and pain to many in our community, including our students,” he said. “However, I am grateful for the collective advocacy of our students, families, staff, and community to do what is right for our students. I am sorry that we went through this, but I am happy that in the end, our students can take this course and receive the full AP experience and rewards of completing the course successfully.”

Woods’ move is a reversal from , when he said he chose not to recommend state approval for the college-level class because of the divisive concepts law, although he said schools could still offer the class through a workaround. That didn’t satisfy many critics, who said treating a class on Black history and culture as separate and controversial appeared racist.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp also evinced doubt about Woods’ decision, sending him a letter questioning aspects of the choice.

Last week, Woods said he was seeking to determine whether the law exempted AP and other advanced classes. That’s where Rep. Will Wade came in. The Dawsonville Republican who sits on the House Education Committee was the chief sponsor of the divisive concepts bill and said the bill absolutely exempts those classes.

“Once I understood that he was trying to find clarity, I felt obligated as the author of the bill to get clarification with the AG’s office, which he provided to me, and I shared it with the staff at the DOE to say, ‘Hey guys, I’m not sure why you are having confusion and what’s going on, but I want you to know that I’ve asked this question, and I’m happy to share it with you.’ And that occurred earlier this week,” Wade said.

The divisive concepts bill states that “Nothing in this Code section shall be construed or applied to …. Prohibit the full and rigorous implementation of curricula, or elements of a  curriculum, that are required as part of advanced placement, international baccalaureate,  or dual enrollment coursework; provided, however, that such implementation is done in a professionally and academically appropriate manner and without espousing personal  political beliefs.”

Wade said he and the House Education Committee decided to add that carve out to protect students’ opportunity to take challenging classes meant for college students and earn extra credit.

“I think that he understands that he made a mistake,” he said, referring to Woods. “I understand he apologized last week for how we got where we got, but I can’t tell you why. I don’t know his legal opinion or who is advising him in his office, and I’m a big believer in teamwork and learning from mistakes. I’m a son of two educators, and that’s part of learning, and so I hope that the superintendent uses this as a great learning experience to improve communication and gain better understanding in the future as it relates to laws that affect his department and his responsibilities.”

Education Department spokeswoman Meghan Frick said Woods had been in contact with Carr before receiving the letter from Wade.

“This, along with clarification he sought and received from the AG regarding the course adoption process, is the first formal legal opinion we’ve received on this issue,” she said.

The Georgia Attorney General’s office spokesperson Kara Murray confirmed the office provided legal advice but said they could not provide comment on it because of attorney-client privilege.

Powder Springs Democrat David Wilkerson, another House Education Committee member, said he’s relieved at the resolution, but he worries the divisive concepts bill creates more messes that lawmakers will need to decide how to tidy up.

“Even though the advanced placement was there you still get the risk of a teacher giving their political views, and that’s never been clarified on what that exactly means, your personal political views,” he said. “Is slavery wrong? Is it not wrong? I think we all agree at this point that it was wrong, but that still could be espoused as a political view. So I think as long as 1084 is around, I think you’re going to have that concern. Now instead of having it at the DOE level, you’re going to have it at the district level.”

The course has been a flashpoint in the culture wars nationwide, including in, where a lawsuit involving the course is underway, and in, where Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would ban the course because he said it represented an attempt to indoctrinate children.

The battle lines have been different in Georgia, with Republicans who speak on the record opposing Woods’ original decision not to support the class.

Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie said Woods may have realized he was fighting a losing battle without any allies, and Kemp may have calculated that appearing to fight against African American studies may have presented a bad look ahead of this year’s election.

“It could be something about not sending off unnecessary salvos in the culture wars,” she said. “This could be viewed as excessive, and it’s also something that could be framed as denying children the type of educational advantage that’s going to make them competitive for college, right? There are content discussions that I think Kemp and Woods and other Republicans are comfortable having, but this particular issue of denying a class for which Georgia students could get college credit, which would save them money in the long term and help them achieve a college education, is something that looks like that you’re actually denying people more things than you are providing more advantages and opportunities. And the optics of it look bad in a state where 30% of the population is Black.”

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Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday it would be possible for federal relief funds to cover salaries if the governor follows through on withholding pay from superintendents and board members who require students to wear masks.

“We’re looking at a range of options,” she said, adding that any action the administration takes could impact the “handful of states that are putting in place measures that make it more difficult for … leaders in the education field to protect students and their communities.”

But DeSantis shot back, saying it would be inappropriate for the administration to intervene.

“I think that they really believe government should rule over the parents’ decisions,” he said during a . “The parents are in the best position to know what’s best for their kids.”

DeSantis, the White House and school officials in districts such as Broward County and Miami-Dade are taking firmer stands on the issue as the state’s COVID-19 positivity rates and hospitalizations .

Florida’s brinkmanship on masks comes as districts across the country are feeling the impact of the more aggressive Delta variant and the pandemic once again is interfering with what parents and officials hoped would be a typical back-to-school season. Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona even raised the possibility of a return to remote learning.

“[If] the community spread gets to a certain level, it may be best to have students learning from home,” he said during a Friday town hall in Boston with the YMCA and the Boys and Girls Clubs. “But we’re going to do everything in our power not to go there. The kids suffered enough.”

Some Florida district leaders say they’re not intimidated by the governor’s threats and argue they have a duty to require masks temporarily.

“I have a moral responsibility to be my brother’s and sister’s keeper, even if it means my salary is taken away,” Rosalind Osgood, chair of the Broward County school board, said Tuesday during a special meeting where members voted to keep the mask mandate in place. “I wonder if the governor has visited the ICU lately.”

The vote came after more than an hour of passionate arguments from parents and staff members on both sides of the issue.

“We’re really lucky that we have such a simple way to protect each other — by wearing a simple cloth mask over our face,” one mother, with her kindergarten daughter on her hip, told the board. “You have an entire community behind you.”

Another mother said the board is infringing on her right to make decisions that affect her child.

“My child does not want to wear a mask,” she told the board. “If the masks were working, why is my child having to be quarantined from exposure so many times?”

Meanwhile officials in Miami-Dade County Public Schools are still weighing their decision on mask rules, and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he’ll listen to the advice of health experts.

“At no point shall I allow my decision to be influenced by a threat to my paycheck; a small price to pay considering the gravity of this issue and the potential impact to the health and well-being of our students and dedicated employees,” he said in a statement.

‘Keep schools open’

Florida is one of eight states not allowing local flexibility regarding mask mandates, according to Burbio’s . Those who disagree with the governor’s position have taken different approaches to the issue.

Some are maintaining that they still have a mask mandate in place, but are allowing parents to opt out. In , it’s sufficient for parents to make the request. But in Alachua County, which includes Gainesville, a doctor’s note is required.

“I’ve been called a monster, child-abuser, communist, fascist, idiot and other names not fit to print. I’ve been threatened with legal action, protests, militia ‘enforcement’ and worse,” Alachua Superintendent Carlee Simon wrote in Monday about her decision to require masks for the first two weeks of school, which began Tuesday. “Certainly we’re concerned about the threat of lost funding, but it shouldn’t come to that. After all, we want what DeSantis wants: to keep schools open and our kids in the classroom.”

Simon noted that the state its Hope Scholarship voucher program to include those who prefer a school requiring masks. The program previously only applied to students who have been bullied, harassed or assaulted, allowing them to transfer to another private or public school. Broward County board members said that new rule only hurts public schools if more families opt to go private.

Some parents think DeSantis is making the right call.

“The silver lining of COVID is that it doesn’t impact kids,” said Bill Gilles, who has two children in the St. Johns County School District, which includes St. Augustine. The district is complying with the governor’s order.

Children represent less than 10 percent of COVID-19 cases internationally, according to the .

Gilles said he and his wife were more accepting of masks last school year before vaccines were available. But now, young people more likely to become infected are the “bar crowd and not the school-age crowd,” he said. “It just doesn’t justify putting burdens on kids.”

According to the state health department’s data, are 14 percent among children under 12 and 20 percent for 12- to 19-year-olds. About 1 in every 100,000 children in Florida, 17 and under, has been hospitalized for COVID-19, which is roughly double the last peak at .56 per 100,000 in January, to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But DeSantis said in his comments Tuesday that RSV, a common respiratory infection, is contributing to increased hospitalization rates.

In June, the CDC noted that RSV cases were and that the state has a longer season of the infection than others.

‘The worsening situation’

Nationally, the majority of states are leaving the decision about masks up to local officials, and for some parents in districts where masks aren’t mandated, that’s a problem.

“Our preference is for our kids to be in person, but for everyone to wear a mask,” said Alan Seelinger, a parent of three children in Georgia’s Cobb County School District. Unlike other metro Atlanta districts, Cobb does not require masks and is no longer taking students’ temperatures or asking about COVID-19 symptoms.

A week into the new school year, however, nearly 1,500 cases have across the metro area.

“It is regrettable that this pandemic was ever politicized, so we simply ask that you employ a data- and science-driven approach in light of the worsening situation we are seeing today,” the Seelingers wrote in their letter to the board last week, sharing a Bible verse about looking out “for the interests of others.”

Seelinger, who has two children who still aren’t old enough for vaccines, would like to see the district renew the option for virtual learning. While the district still allows remote learning, parents had to make the choice at the end of last school year.

Parents in the county who want masks at the district office on Thursday.

“Kids have a right to a safe school, and right now Cobb schools aren’t safe,” Seelinger said.

Opinions about masks largely fall along partisan lines, with more than three-fourths of Democrats in a recent saying they’ll put on a mask in public all or most of the time, compared to less than 40 percent of Republicans.

In California, one of nine states currently with a mask mandate for schools, the issue surfaced in a recent debate among leading Republican candidates vying to unseat Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in a September recall election. All four candidates participating in the debate mask mandates.

The Delta variant, however, has been enough to change some Republican’s minds. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he regrets signing a law in April banning mask mandates. He has tried to change the legislation, but lawmakers have declined to revisit the issue. On Friday, a judge temporarily blocked the law, to require masks.

“I can only hope in my heart this is what happens to Gov DeSantis,” Broward County board member Nora Rupert said Tuesday.