With the delta variant surging and children returning to schools, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan sharply criticized some of his fellow Republican governors Tuesday for their ;positions on school mask mandates.

In an appearance on CBS This Morning, Hogan said governors who oppose mask mandates, and those in Texas and Florida who issued orders banning mask mandates in schools, violate Republican principles.

“If they're Republican governors who are saying they're all about freedom, and yet they're taking away the freedom of local school systems, and in some cases, businesses to make those decisions for themselves,” he said.

Hogan, who has issued vaccine mandates for health care workers, said his administration has been encouraging the use of masks, but left it up to local, elected school boards to make that decision.

“It's a basic conservative Republican principle to let local decision makers make decisions,” he said.

Hogan said about two-thirds of Maryland’s school boards have decided to require masks.