Sixteen states recently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its plan to terminate more than $1 billion in federal funding for school-based mental health services. The coalition of states, from California to New York, accuses the Department of Education of making unlawful and unconstitutional cuts to students’ rights. The states say the White House violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it cancelled the funding earlier this year.
Congress created the $1 billion grants to help students cope with violence in and around schools. They were passed after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 students. Over the past three years, the grants have been used to hire additional staff to provide mental health services to students and train educators in supporting the diverse mental health needs of students.
The lawsuit says nearly 775,000 students received services in the program’s first year of implementation.
The Department of Education has stopped paying out these grants as part of its crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The lawsuit alleges that because of this, many of these mental health workers will be laid off, and students will lose the critical resources they need.
The lawsuit continues:
“These grants were designed to respond to America’s school shooting crisis and fill a critical need in schools. 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.”
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