Biden school plan clashes with Arizona ban
President Joe Biden’s call for all states to adopt vaccine requirements for school employees could run headlong into Arizona legislation banning vaccine mandates and set the stage for a legal showdown.
Biden’s plan was announced Thursday as part of a “six-pronged strategy” focused on strengthening vaccination requirements for federal workers and companies with more than 100 employees, increasing school safety protocols and making COVID-19 testing more accessible to curb the surging delta variant that is killing thousands each week.
But that effort is likely to meet with pushback in Arizona, where giving employers and families the option to decide on face coverings or vaccines has been a central part of Gov. Doug Ducey’s approach to COVID-19.
Arizona passed legislation this summer prohibiting mask and vaccine mandates in schools, despite rising concern over the spread of the delta variant, particularly in children. A legal ruling in August found that the mask portion of the ruling did not go into effect until Sep. 29.
Biden also announced the Department of Education will provide additional funding to help local school districts backfill salaries and other funding that had been withheld by state leaders for implementing COVID-19 safety measures.
That will specifically impact schools that have passed mask mandates in Arizona, in defiance of state legislation prohibiting them from doing so. Ducey’s office had announced in August the creation of a grant program that would offer a boost in per-pupil funding only to school districts that “follow all state laws.”
At least 14 Arizona school districts have implemented COVID-19 mask mandates since schools opened this year. Ducey has said those mandates are illegal, but a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that districts currently could require masks because the law does not take effect until Sept. 29.
Biden’s new plan also includes a plan requiring teachers and staff at federally funded education programs like Head Start, Department of Defense schools and Bureau of Indian Education-operated schools to be vaccinated.
He also announced the Department of Labor is developing an emergency temporary standard to require all businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure every worker is either fully vaccinated or face testing at least once a week, a standard that will affect more than 80 million workers.
Those measures bring the Biden administration a step closer to challenging Arizona’s approach to COVID-19 safety.
The administration announced last month that it would investigate five states that are banning districts from mandating masks, on the grounds that such policies violate the civil rights of children with disabilities and underlying health conditions.
The federal Office of Civil Rights did not open investigations in Arizona and several other states, however, because their bans on universal indoor masking are not currently being enforced as a result of court orders or other state actions, according to the Education Department.
That could shift in September, when state legislation passed this summer banning school districts from implementing mask mandates is expected to go into effect.
Ducey, responding on Twitter, promised Biden’s measures “will never stand up in a court.”
“This dictatorial approach is wrong, un-American and will do far more harm than good. How many workers will be displaced? How many kids kept out of classrooms?” the statement said. “The vaccine is and should be a choice. We must and will push back.”