TUCSON—Today, Governor Ducey’s office announced $163 million in grants to district and charter schools that “follow all state laws and remain open for in-person instruction” through the entire school year. As a response Rep. Grijalva issued the following statement.

“Governor Ducey has wasted no time in doubling down on his anti-public schools, anti-mask and anti-vaccine agenda,” said Rep. Grijalva. “This latest undertaking of forcing public schools to choose between critical federal relief funds or the health and safety of its students, families and faculty is simply cruel. When Congress allocated those federal funds, the intent was to help districts reopen schools in a safe manner, including alleviating costs related to pandemic safety measures like ventilation systems and personal protective equipment. Schools who are taking all those preventative measures should not be penalized or fall victims of poor leadership from the State. If Governor Ducey was truly worried about the well-being of our children, he would focus on stopping the rapidly increasing community spread of COVID rather than continuing with his political posturing. I will be sending the Biden Administration an inquiry regarding the legality of withholding federal relief funds from k-12 schools that choose to safely reopen by implementing critical mitigation efforts.”

###