Florida officials have committed to spending more than half a million dollars on private lawyers to defend a mandate that schools reopen brick-and-mortar classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to contracts provided by the Department of Education.

The legal costs were made public as an appellate court signaled Monday that it intends to side with the state in lawsuits filed by teachers unions challenging a July 6 emergency order issued by Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran. The mandate required schools to reopen classrooms five days a week in August or risk losing state funding.