The Maryland State Board of Education voted Thursday to approve a regulation requiring universal mask wearing inside all schools in the state this year.|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||The vote comes after Maryland State School Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury said Tuesday that he supported universal masking this fall. Despite the vote, the measure still needs legislative approval by the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review, which has 10 days to approve the measure. But the 11 to 1 vote is a big step toward making masks mandatory in schools."We did not want to see another situation where we would potentially have to close down a school close down a school system," Maryland State Board of Education President Clarence Crawford said. "We're trying to create an environment where we have a safe, consistent education system and do our absolute very best to allow our children to be children."As it stands now, the decision to require masks in schools is up to the local school systems.Recently, state Senate leaders wrote a letter to the board, urging them to issue an emergency order because five jurisdictions in the state, including Carroll County, have opted to make masks optional.In a letter addressed to the board, the Senate wrote, in part, "We must do everything reasonable in our power to minimize the risk to our students, many of whom are too young to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Despite the proven efficacy of masking to reduce COVID-19 transmission, five Maryland jurisdictions have opted to make masks optional."The vote was nearly unanimous in favor of a statewide mandate. State board of education member Gail Bates was the only dissenting vote."The local school boards already have the authority to put the mask mandate into play. They have it if we did absolutely nothing, they could do it if the numbers in their county situation, in their county mandated or warranted it and then they're closet to the people," Bates said. According to the board, the proposed emergency regulation would last for 180 days and it could be rescinded if things improve. As the legislative committee still has to approve it, the student member of the school board hopes they do. He said he does not want to have to go back to virtual learning."You can see students prefer learning in person more and just wearing masks is common sense to avoid quarantines, to avoid shutting down, schools going back online again," Maryland State Board of Education student member Kevin Bokoum said.Carroll County Board of Education President Marsha Herbert released a statement, saying, "We were disappointed by the action taken by the State Board yesterday and agree with the position taken by the Governor that the question of masks in school is best decided by local school systems. At this point, we are reviewing the State Board’s proposed regulation, and we will decide what, if any actions, we will pursue at a later date."