Sixteen Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday challenging the Department of Education’s cuts to mental health funding for schools.

In April, the Education Department announced the $1 billion cut to mental health funding, citing concerns with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives embedded in the contracts. 

The states allege the contracts were unlawfully terminated under the Administrative Procedure Act and that the cancellation goes against congressional mandates. The lawsuit says the cuts would cause “immediate and devastating harm” to schools. 

“By cutting funding for these lifesaving youth mental health programs, the Department of Education is abandoning our children when they need us most,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “These grants have helped thousands of students access critical mental health services at a time when young people are facing record levels of depression, trauma, and anxiety.” 

“To eliminate these grants now would be a grave disservice to children and families in New York and nationwide, and my office is fighting back to preserve these much-needed programs,” James added. 

The lawsuit was filed by New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. 

The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.  

In its initial announcement of the cut, the department argued the grants designed to help children were making the situation the worse.  

“These grants are intended to improve American students’ mental health by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses. Instead, under the deeply flawed priorities of the Biden Administration, grant recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help,” said Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Education Department.   

“We owe it to American families to ensure that tax-payer dollars are supporting evidence-based practices that are truly focused on improving students’ mental health,” she added.