Sixteen states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that the Department of Education wrongfully stopped over $1 billion in federal money meant for mental health services in schools.
Democratic attorneys general started this major legal challenge from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
According to MSNBC, they argue that the federal government’s decision earlier this year to end these approved funds breaks the Administrative Procedure Act. This law has often been used by those fighting against the President’s broad use of executive power during his second term. The money in question comes from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun safety law passed in 2022.
Congress approved this bill and then signed it into law by then-President Joe Biden. It was created in direct response to the terrible tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, where a teenage shooter killed nineteen elementary school students and two teachers, while also injuring seventeen others. After this heartbreaking event, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers worked together to set aside more than $1 billion specifically to improve students’ access to mental health services nationwide.
Trump is being sued for stopping grants Congress approved
The main goal of this effort was to permanently add 14,000 more mental health professionals to schools across the country, with a special focus on low-income and rural areas where these resources are often hardest to find. However, this year, the Department of Education announced it would stop providing these grants. The administration explained that this decision is part of a larger plan to cut programs it sees as linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
On April 29, the Education Department sent official letters to hundreds of organizations receiving this funding, which is a lot from a department that was supposedly going to be ended. These letters stated that their current mental health programs were considered an “inappropriate use of federal funds” and were accused of “violating civil rights laws.” This sudden end to the funding, along with the reasoning behind it, has led to the current legal battle.
The lawsuit focuses on the Department of Education’s actions, saying they go against the legal rules for how administrative decisions should be made. By using the Administrative Procedure Act, the states are arguing that the federal government’s choice to stop funding that Congress had already approved is illegal. Their main point is that ending these grants did not follow the correct legal steps and is an overreach of presidential power.
Scandalous. Sixteen states are suing the Trump admin for killing over $1 billion in mental health grants meant to help after mass school shootings.
— 𝔘𝔩𝔲𝔟𝔞𝔱𝔩ı𝔥𝔞𝔰𝔞𝔫ı𝔪 (@CriticerX) July 1, 2025
Cutting support for traumatized kids how low can you go? pic.twitter.com/ymHld0RyO7
This law allows courts to review government agency actions, making sure they follow the rules and proper procedures. The attorneys general want to force the administration to bring back the funding so that students can continue receiving critical mental health services.
The attorneys general involved in the lawsuit say these funding cuts would be extremely harmful to young people. They stress that taking away money for these life saving mental health programs means abandoning children when they need help the most.
The grants have already given thousands of students access to important mental health services during a time when young people are facing record levels of depression, trauma, and anxiety. Ending these programs would hurt children and their families not just in the states leading the lawsuit, but across the entire country.
