The Office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom is responding to a letter from the Orange County Board of Education that requests that Newsom end the state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a response from the governor's office to the Southern California Record, the office said that this matter has already been decided.
"The Supreme Court summarily denied the Orange County Board of Education’s baseless suit last month, and the Board hasn’t said anything new in this letter. The state remains focused on safely reopening schools, increasing vaccination rates and promoting common-sense health measures," a spokesperson from the California Governor's Office said in a statement to the Southern California Record.
At its September meeting, the Orange County Board of Education decided to send the letter to Newsom.
The letter references a petition filed by the Orange County Board of Education in the California Supreme Court to terminate the state of emergency due to COVID-19 that the governor declared on March 4, 2020.
"The Board believes the petition raised serious constitutional questions on a matter of substantial public importance that the Supreme Court was well positioned to decide in the first instance," the letter reads.
The court declined to hear the petition.
"That does not change the Board's feelings or legal positions and arguments, which we believe are compelling," the letter reads. "But, as children return to classrooms across California, it is becoming increasingly clear that COVID-19 cannot be eradicated. We will have to live with it, as we live with other viruses. It is also clear that the state of emergency that existed last March no longer exists. And it cannot last forever."