Judge temporarily stops Head Start mask, vaccine mandates in Georgia

Students in hundreds of Georgia’s Head Start programs will not have to wear a mask after a federal judge in Louisiana temporarily stopped a federal mandate requiring it, Attorney General Chris Carr announced.

Carr said a multistate lawsuit has for now stopped a requirement that Head Start students aged 2 and up wear masks.

“We are very pleased that the court has issued a preliminary injunction, and we will continue to stand up for the rule of law until this latest unconstitutional mandate has been stopped permanently,” Carr said in a written statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Georgia was among two dozen states that sued last month after President Joe Biden’s administration had called for Head Start students to wear a mask. Employees and certain contractors and volunteers had to get vaccinated in addition to wearing a mask.

Carr said the court ruling in Louisiana was for a temporary stop to both the vaccine and masking mandates.

Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted that the ruling was a win “against the Biden administration’s unconstitutional mandates and a victory for our early care and learning classrooms!”

The program uses federal funding to provide early schooling for children younger than 6 from low-income families. It also serves pregnant women, reaching more than 24,000 individuals in Georgia last year. As of October, 83% of Georgia’s centers were operating in-person.

Kemp announced last month that Carr had filed a lawsuit along with 23 other states asking the court to enjoin the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Administration for Children and Families from enforcing the mandate.

The requirement applied to all programs funded by Head Start, including some administered by Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning. A spokesman for that agency said there are about 380 Head Start centers and locations in Georgia, including some run by school districts. The federal government oversees implementation, but the vast majority also are licensed by the state.

Louisiana U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, issued the ruling, writing that the matter “will certainly be decided by a higher court than this one.”

National Head Start Association Executive Director Yasmina Vinci said in a statement last month that masks and vaccination are crucial but that Head Start leaders want something between a mandate and a ban on mandates.

“Head Start leaders are seeking the middle ground,” she said.