Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona defended local school districts that adopt mask mandates in comments Wednesday that included a swipe at U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Our schools must stay open,” Cardona said at a press conference hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. “Six years ago, I couldn’t tell you what an epidemiologist did. But for the last three years, I had them on speed dial because they know transmission better than I do. And better than Ted Cruz does, too.”

The remark about Cruz was likely in reference to his recent criticisms of mask mandates in schools.

“This is all about controlling people, whether it’s mask mandates, whether it’s vaccine mandates, whether it’s having the 437th booster,” Sen. Cruz (R-TX) said on a podcast Wednesday. “Enough is enough is enough.”

Cruz also took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to slam schools that enact mask mandates.

“If you want to voluntarily wear a mask, fine, but leave our kids the hell alone,” Cruz wrote last week in response to news that a Montgomery County, Maryland, school established a mask mandate for students.

Another post from Cruz criticized President Joe Biden, who appeared in a video from a press conference to joke about not wearing a mask despite being told to do so by his staff.

“If only children in Montgomery County public schools also had the freedom to not wear a mask,” Cruz posted on social media last week.

In his comments on Wednesday, Cardona criticized leaders who pass laws that ban local mask mandates. The Texas Legislature passed such a law during its last regular session. It was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and took effect September 1.

While not mentioning Texas or Gov. Abbott directly, Cardona said such laws are a “symptom of disrespect” and an “interference from state government messing up the strategies that are helping keep schools safe.”

“We have governors from hundreds of miles away sending down edicts,” Cardona said. “They’re vaccinated, they can control who walks into their office,” and yet they are “making decisions for a classroom where we have 25, 30 students, some of them who have ill parents at home or grandparents, and a teacher who may have children at home.”