HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced on Tuesday a rule encouraging schools to give parents final say on whether children should wear masks in schools, after several large school districts in the state implemented mask requirements for all students.
Gianforte, a Republican, made the announcement after the U.S. Department of Education opened on Monday civil rights investigations into five Republican-led states that have banned or limited mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions.
Gianforte stopped short of issuing an outright order. Still, medical experts said the rule would likely weaken public trust in masks as an effective tool to combat the pandemic.
The governor said in a statement that masking in schools, which is recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is “based on inconclusive research.” He also said masking could have adverse impacts on children’s “health, wellbeing and development.”
The CDC issued its guidance in light of the rapid spread of the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19. A growing body of evidence suggests masks are a highly effective tool in limiting the spread of the virus in schools.
The new rule says schools should consider “parental concerns” when adopting mask mandates and should provide parents the ability opt out of health-related mandates for a wide array of reasons, including physical and mental health, developmental needs, religious beliefs and moral convictions.
Adam Meier, director of the state health department, said in a statement that the department “would encourage schools to take into account all of these factors and implement any mitigation strategies in the least restrictive means as possible to maximize learning outcomes for Montana children.”
Districts in Montana that have already implemented mask requirements include Missoula and Billings. In Missoula, a group of parents who oppose the mask requirement has already filed a lawsuit against schools that require masking. They cite the same research mentioned by Gianforte, including a CDC study from May 2021 that found that masking in schools did not have a statistically significant impact on the spread of COVID-19.
Spokespeople for Helena public schools and Missoula County public schools said Tuesday they were still reviewing the new rule with their legal teams before making any public comments.
A group of medical associations called a meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss their response to the rule. Several medical experts cited concern over the possibility that the rule would reduce masking even as the number of COVID-19 cases surges across Montana.
“I worry that the governor’s office is stepping out of its usual role in trying to interpret medical literature in a way that’s going to be confusing to parents,” said Dr. Lauren Wilson, vice president of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “In the context of heightened emotions right now, that is a poor choice.”
Dr. Greg Holzman, Montana’s former chief medical officer who served in the position through April 2021, said he did not understand the reasoning for the new rule, since it is not binding.
“I don’t think it helps when we are trying to bring our communities together to work together to end this pandemic,” he said. “I’m not sure what this really adds except for challenges.”
Holzman said data used to back the rule was cherry-picked to fit the administration’s views on masks.
“I just don’t understand where they’re pulling this and why they are choosing these few articles and don’t have any comments on any of the other stuff coming out,” he said.
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This story has been corrected to show that the new Montana rule encourages schools to give parents the final say on school masking requirements, but it does not require schools to do that.
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