SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In response to federal education officials opening a new investigation into whether state law banning school districts from imposing mask mandates violates the rights of students with disabilities, Utah State Board of Education superintendent Sydnee Dickson says the U.S. Education Department the state has been “unfairly defined.”

In a Monday statement, Dickson said there is a way for schools to require masks. One small county, the liberal-leaning Grand County, has navigated new restrictions in state law to pass a school mask mandate.

Dickson says she looks forward to working with federal officials to clarify Utah’s position.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall put a mask mandate in place for schools in the Salt Lake City School District after an effort to mandate masks in Salt Lake County was overturned by the Republican-controlled council. One powerful lawmaker has said the city rule is unenforceable and threatened legislative action to constrain Mendenhall’s emergency powers.

Utah is one of five Republican-led states now under investigation. The others are Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Education Department says those states’ moves to ban or limit mask requirements in schools could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions because those students can’t safely attend school.