Arizona won't stop using COVID money for anti-mask grants

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

PHOENIX -- 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.