The GOP-led committee voted 12-10 to back the amended bill sponsored by Del. Amanda Batten, R-James City.

The underlying bill requires public schools to offer in-person instruction.

“The substitute includes language clarifying that parents may choose whether their child wears a mask at school,” Batten told the panel.

On Tuesday the Virginia Senate voted 29-9 to amend a bill in order to prevent local school boards from levying mask mandates and from punishing students whose parents opt to send their child to school without a mask.

Batten said her bill includes a recommendation by the Virginia School Boards Association to clarify that schools are still allowed to remove a student from school for disciplinary reasons.

Aimee Rogstad Guidera, Youngkin’s designee as secretary of education, spoke in favor of the amended legislation. She told the panel that the amendment “reinforces that parents have a right to make decisions about their children.”

House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, was among Democrats on the panel who said the measure would remove school systems’ authority to enforce mask requirements in case of another COVID surge.

“Kids would be put in jeopardy moving forward,” Filler-Corn said.

Stacy Haney of the Virginia School Boards Association told the panel that such decisions would best be made at the local level.

A 2021 law on students returning to in-person classes, Senate Bill 1303, expires Aug. 1.

The Virginia Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a challenge of Youngkin’s executive order brought by a group of Chesapeake parents.

That ruling came three days after an Arlington County judge found that Youngkin did not have authority to supersede the judgment of local school boards in setting policy for reducing the threat of COVID to students, teachers and other school employees.