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Montana calls on Biden Administration to drop its mask mandate for kids in Head Start programs – Daily Montanan

['Keith Schubert', 'More From Author', '- March']

Date: 2022-03 

Montana has joined 21 other states in calling for the Biden Administration to drop its mask mandate for kids in Head Start programs.

The federal government is temporarily blocked from enforcing this mandate in Montana, but the Biden Administration continues to fight for the mandates in federal court, Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s office said in a press release Thursday.

On Thursday, Knudsen joined the other states in demanding federal officials to immediately drop the Head Start mask mandate, which requires children as young as 2 years old, staff, and volunteers to wear masks.

Head Start and Early Head Start programs provide federal funding to local education programs for education and child development services for pre-school-aged children from low-income families. According to the AG’s office, 20 organizations in the state employing 1,500 workers receive funding through the programs.

A federal judge has also temporarily halted a vaccine mandate for the programs.

“Parents across the country have fought tirelessly against oppressive mask mandates for children. As the tide finally begins to turn, it is long past time for you to abandon this unconscionable policy,” the states wrote in a letter to the administration. “Instead of giving our children a head start for school readiness, your Administration is setting them up for failure. Rescind this unlawful mandate and let our kids be kids.”

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