Washington State leads lawsuit against Department of Education’s mental health funding cuts

SEATTLE — A coalition of 16 state attorneys general, led by Washington, filed a lawsuit late Monday against the U.S. Department of Education for illegally cutting congressionally approved funding for mental health programs in K-12 schools.

After the tragic deaths of 19 students and 2 teachers during a mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a bipartisan Congress appropriated $1 billion in order to permanently bring 14,000 mental health professionals into the schools that needed it the most. The programs have delivered. According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), grantees served nearly 775,000 students and hired nearly 1,300 school mental health professionals during the first year of funding. NASP also found a 50% reduction in suicide risk at high-need schools, decreases in absenteeism and behavioral issues, and increases in positive student-staff engagement based on data from sampled programs.

The Department of Education awarded grants spanning a five-year project period and makes yearly decisions to continue each grant’s funding. As required by its regulations, the Department of Education considered the grantee’s performance when deciding whether to continue funding.

On April 29, 2025, the Department of Education sent boilerplate notices to grantees claiming On April 29, the Department of Education sent boilerplate notices to grantees claiming that their grants now conflicted with the Trump Administration’s priorities and funding would be discontinued. The Department of Education's non-continuation decision means that students in at least three educational service districts in Washington, which cover 90 school districts in the northwest part of the state, may no longer have access to critical mental health services starting this fall.

“School-based mental health programs can be a literal life saver for our students,” Attorney General Nick Brown said. “The Department of Education’s decision threatens the safety and well-being of our youth.”

The attorneys general filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaint alleges that the Department of Education’s funding cuts violate the  Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution. The attorneys general ask a federal judge to rule the funding cuts are illegal and seek an injunction rescinding the non-continuation decision.

Joining the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.

The complaint can be found here.

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