Schools Fight Back: States Block Cuts to Student Mental‑Health Funding

A group of state attorneys general, led by Maryland’s chief legal officer, has sued the U. S. Department of Education to stop a planned withdrawal of federal money that supports mental‑health programs in schools. The lawsuit claims the cuts would cost Maryland’s public schools and universities over $3 million, jeopardizing counseling services that help students cope with stress and trauma. The legal action argues that the Department is illegally ending grants that Congress approved to expand mental‑health care in schools. The move would also affect training programs at Bowie State University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where future counselors and psychologists receive their education.

The states were notified in April 2025 that the grants, which had been authorized by Congress, would be terminated because they supposedly conflicted with the priorities of a former administration. Officials say the Department is targeting these grants because they are linked to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. In July 2025 the coalition filed suit in the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. A court order issued in December declared the cuts unlawful and granted a permanent injunction preventing the Department from proceeding with them. The attorneys general are now asking the court to keep the grants active while the case continues. If the cuts were allowed, millions of dollars in mental‑health services for elementary and secondary students would disappear. The lawsuit stresses that the well‑being of children should not be sacrificed for political reasons.

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