The abrupt discontinuation of roughly $1 billion in federal mental health funding for schools will cause layoffs of school-based mental health staff, dry up scholarships for college students who want to be mental health professionals in K-12 schools, and worsen outcomes for hundreds of thousands of students, a coalition of Democratic state officials argue in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education filed this week.
The lawsuit, filed by 16 states in federal court in Seattle on Monday, challenges the department’s April 30 announcement that it would stop funding about $1 billion in mental health grants awarded during the Biden administration because they no longer aligned with the Trump administration’s priorities. The state attorneys general argue that discontinuing the multi-year grants violates federal law and regulations and ask a judge to immediately restore the funding.
“Without them, many children in rural and lower-income schools will go without mental health services and will suffer the attendant consequences: short- and long-term health problems; lower grades; increased absenteeism, suspensions, and expulsions; and a higher risk of suicide and drug overdose,” the complaint argues.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is yet another education-related legal challenge to the Trump administration as it works to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the department has canceled billions in federal grants and contracts for research, data collection, and teacher training; prematurely ended pandemic-era funding before reversing course last week; and attempted to impose new criteria for states and schools to access federal dollars—requesting that they sign pledges certifying they don’t use “illegal” diversity, equity, and inclusion practices—before judges intervened.
The mental health grant funds—like other efforts the Education Department has ended—saw widespread bipartisan support, and were authorized by Congress in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which passed after 19 students and two teachers lost their lives in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The grant funding was part of a longer-term effort by both Republicans and Democrats—including during Trump’s first term—to send more funding to schools to support behavioral health needs.
But in his second term, the president has doggedly pursued the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion programming, with these mental health grants caught up in those efforts.
In a letter sent in April, the department told recipients the awards could “violate the letter or purpose of federal civil rights law; conflict with the department’s policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education; undermine the well-being of the students these programs are intended to help; or constitute an inappropriate use of federal funds.”
The department said it planned to “re-envision and re-compete” the grants based on its new priorities—“merit, fairness, and excellence in education.”
The complaint argues programs have been ‘an incredible success’
The state officials argue in their complaint that the programs funded by these mental health grants have been “an incredible success,” providing services to nearly 775,000 students nationwide. The programs showed reduction in students’ suicide risk, decreases in absenteeism and behavioral problems, and increases in student-staff engagement, according to the complaint.
With the grants now ending, states stand to lose millions in funds, the complaint says, which could lead to layoffs of mental health professionals employed through the grant funding, and the termination of financial support for graduate students who are providing mental health services in rural and low-income schools.
New York, for instance, would see a cut of at least $19 million, according to the complaint. California will lose at least $98 million across 21 county offices of education and local districts, according to the complaint.
In Washington state, 35 school districts in the northwest corner of the state were able to use the grant money to add 19 new mental health professionals to schools and increase services for students who previously lacked access to such help due to geographic isolation and struggles navigating community-based services.
Other grants bolstered higher education programs meant to grow the pipeline of mental health professionals who would eventually serve in high-needs communities.
The states that filed the lawsuit are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
