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The department said it has not opened investigations in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, or Arizona because those states’ bans on universal indoor masking are not being enforced in schools due to litigation or other state action. The office would continue to closely monitor those states, officials said.

On Friday, a Florida court rejected an effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and other state officials to prevent mask mandates in schools.

Earlier this month, President Biden announced he had directed his Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to use the agency’s broad power to intervene in states where governors have blocked mask mandates. “We are not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” he said.

Dr. Cardona has said he was particularly perturbed by prohibitions in places where the Delta variant of the coronavirus has sent cases surging. He said that he has heard from desperate parents who fear sending their immunocompromised and medically vulnerable children into schools that do not have universal masking. This month, parents of young children with disabilities sued Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican, over his ban on mask mandates in public schools, arguing that his order prevented their medically at-risk children from being able to attend school safely.

“The department has heard from parents from across the country — particularly parents of students with disabilities and with underlying medical conditions — about how state bans on universal indoor masking are putting their children at risk and preventing them from accessing in-person learning equally,” Dr. Cardona said in a statement announcing the investigations.