Fifteen states sue to stop school mental health grant cuts

4 min read

Democratic attorneys general in 15 states, including Maine, filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Trump administration from ending a $1 billion Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program that Congress funded after recent school shootings. The grants, created after the 2018 Parkland shooting and funded with $1 billion in 2022 after Uvalde, have supported mental and behavioral health services for nearly 775,000 students and operated in 49 states. Officials say the department plans to terminate grants at month end despite a December 2025 court order, risking millions in lost funding and prompting new litigation to close legal gaps.

Lawsuit aims to stop termination of $1 billion school mental health grants