Washington State leads lawsuit to prevent Department of Education’s cuts to school mental health grants

Attorney General Nick Brown led a lawsuit today with 14 other attorneys general to prevent the U.S. Department of Education from unlawfully terminating congressionally approved school-based mental health grants. In defiance of a court order, the administration plans to terminate these grants at the end of July, which is projected to cost Washington schools and universities over $20 million. 

“This administration already tried to take money from our schools, money that was supposed to support student mental health, and they lost,” said Brown. “Now they’re trying using a new tactic to try for the same goal--getting around the court’s order and Congress’s intent. Our goal is the same too: fighting for and defending the well-being of Washington’s kids.”

In the wake of devastating school shootings, members of Congress from both parties came together to appropriate $1 billion to permanently bring 14,000 mental health professionals into U.S. schools most in need, especially in low-income and rural communities. The programs have been an incredible success. In their first year, the programs provided mental and behavioral health services to nearly 775,000 elementary and secondary students nationwide. Sampled projects showed real results: a 50% reduction in suicide risk at high-need schools, decreases in absenteeism and behavioral issues, and increases in positive student-staff engagement.

In April 2025, the department notified grantees in Washington and the other coalition states that their grants would be discontinued for allegedly conflicting with the Trump administration's new priorities. The department later revealed the grants had been targeted for their perceived support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

In July 2025, Brown led the coalition in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against the department over the discontinuation of the grants. In December 2025, the coalition secured an order declaring the department’s discontinuations were unlawful and requiring it to make new continuation decisions. The court also issued a permanent injunction that prohibited the department from implementing the discontinuations “through any means.”

The department has admitted most of the grants should have been continued, but they have nonetheless engaged in an ongoing campaign to hinder, threaten, and ultimately try to eliminate the mental health grants in Washington and the other coalition states. Although the department issued continuation awards through December 31, 2026, the department only provided funding for six months, making planning difficult because grantees do not know how much funding they will get for the fall. The department also threatened not to provide funding for the second half of the year and are making grantees jump through unnecessary hoops to access funds—diverting resources and staff from supporting student mental health to filling out superfluous paperwork. 

The department claimed it planned to review the grants at the six-month mark and then make additional funding determinations. But instead, the department has targeted the grants protected by the original injunction and announced they plan to terminate the grants altogether. By calling this a termination rather than a discontinuation, the administration seeks to circumvent the court’s order, which required them to follow the law with respect to these important mental health grants. Although Brown and the coalition continue to fight this attempt to circumvent the court’s order, they have filed this new lawsuit to prevent these planned terminations and cover any gaps that would threaten these critical grants. 

Terminating the grants would result in the loss of millions of dollars in mental health services to Washington elementary and secondary school students. Washington has gone to court repeatedly to fight for these mental health grants and has won five times against the administration. But the department has repeatedly dragged its feet, harming the ability of schools and other grantees to address the youth mental health crisis. Now the department threatens to terminate the nine remaining grants in Washington at the end of July. 

The attorneys general allege that the Department of Education’s plan to terminate the mental health grants violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution. The attorneys general have moved for a preliminary injunction to prevent the grants from being terminated.

Joining Brown in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

The complaint can be found here. 

The motion for preliminary injunction can be found here.