President Donald Trump addresses the media alongside Elon Musk in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Evan Vucci).
A group of 16 states is challenging the Trump administration’s decision to retract over $1 billion designated for “bipartisan mental health funding” aimed at supporting students in disadvantaged and rural areas. In a lawsuit filed Monday, the coalition accuses the federal government of breaking grant commitments and contravening federal laws, resulting in hardships for schools and students, according to the states.
The attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin are taking legal action against the Department of Education. They allege that the department “unlawfully terminated funding approved by Congress” for mental health initiatives in K-12 educational institutions.
“The tragic events of the Uvalde school shooting prompted a bipartisan Congress to dramatically increase the historical funding levels for the programs and ensure future funds would be available through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” the AGs wrote in a 48-page complaint filed in the Western District of Washington state.
“On or about April 29 … the Department decided to discontinue program grants based on an alleged conflict with the current Administration”s priorities,” the complaint later says. “The Department implemented its Non-Continuation Decision by sending boilerplate notices to plaintiffs claiming that their grants conflicted with the Trump Administration’s priorities and would not be continued.”
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According to the states, department officials intend to repurpose the program funds “based on new priorities.” The department issued its notices to plaintiffs’ grantees, including state education agencies, local education agencies and institutes of higher education. The department provided “little to no insight into the basis for the discontinuance,” while allegedly destroying projects “years in the making,” the states say.
“Defendants’ unlawful actions have already caused and will cause immediate and devastating harm to plaintiffs,” the complaint charges.
“Starting this fall, many schools in Plaintiff states will no longer be able to reliably provide mental health services to the kids that need them most,” it says. “These discontinuances threaten the very purpose of these Programs — to protect the safety of our children by permanently increasing the number of mental health professionals providing mental health services to students in low-income and rural schools.”
The states say that if the cuts are not rescinded, local educational agencies will be forced to lay off “the very same professionals” they recruited and hired to provide mental health services using program funds. Institutes of higher education will be affected too, the states allege, with financial support for graduate student internships going out the window as well.
“As a result, hundreds of graduate students will make the difficult choice whether they should enter or continue a graduate program no longer able to offer tuition assistance — drying up a workforce pipeline Congress recognized needed development,” the complaint claims.
Attorneys general in the states suing the department released statements Monday and Tuesday, applauding the team-up. Each state says it is losing millions in grants as a result of the mental health funding cuts.
“I cannot think of a more worthy priority than ensuring children receive mental health services they need,” said Maine AG Aaron Frey in a statement. “These funds were Congressionally designated, with bipartisan support, for this critical service in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy. Withholding these funds is not only cruel, it is illegal.”
New York AG Letitia James said, “By cutting funding for these lifesaving youth mental health programs, the Department of Education is abandoning our children when they need us most. 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.”
Department officials did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment.
