The Department of Education is making a big push for school districts to re-up COVID protocols that have fallen by the wayside in many cases. A big one is mask mandates. 

More than half of the states across the country have no statewide school mandate. Local districts in those states have a little bit more latitude. 

"We're working very closely with the CDC to have a unified message," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. "When you wear masks, when you provide distancing, when you are testing regularly and when you're quarantining, you can function in a school. So we're expecting our education leaders and our educators to follow those practices that worked last year, and we expect our students to be in the classroom every day." 

As millions of students and educators head back to classrooms, COVID policies across the board are evolving day by day. 

This story was originally reported by Chance Seales on Newsy.com