Associated Press:  “Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is defying a demand that he stop using federal coronavirus relief money to fund an education grant program that can only go to schools without mask mandates.  The Republican governor also is continuing a program that gives private school vouchers to parents upset that their children’s schools require masks or quarantines after being exposed to COVID-19.

“In a letter sent to the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday, Ducey’s federal grant team manager ignored the department’s demand that he stop using the money. Instead, Jason Mistlebauer said the money was appropriately being used to help students who were harmed by school mask mandates.  ‘In Arizona, disadvantaged communities bear the brunt of overbearing measures and the state wants to ensure that low-income students are not disproportionately affected by mask mandates rules and school closures,’ Mistlebauer wrote.

“Despite the rationale Mistlebauer laid out, a $163 million grant program Ducey created goes to schools in high-income areas, but only if they do not require masks. And a much smaller program that gives private school vouchers to parents whose children’s public schools have mask mandates or require isolation after COVID-19 exposures doesn’t only target low-income children. Applicants can earn up to 350% of the federal poverty level, which equals $92,750 for a family of four.  Ducey, a Republican, created the grant programs in August to put pressure on school districts that have defied the state’s ban on mask mandates. That ban was later overturned by the courts, but Ducey has not removed the limits on which school districts qualify.”