Sixteen state attorneys general are suing the Trump administration over $1 billion in canceled grant funding to train mental health professionals to work in schools.
In April, the Education Department canceled the funding, intended to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health professionals. The department said the grants conflicted with the policy priorities of the current administration.
Congress passed legislation appropriating the funding in 2022 in the wake of a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers.
In a lawsuit filed June 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the attorneys general ask for the decision to cancel the funding to be declared unlawful, and the grants restored. In its first year, the grant funding provided mental and behavioral health services to 775,000 students, according to the lawsuit.
