Since last June, the states have been fighting the Department of Education’s abrupt and unlawful decision to discontinue grants that were previously approved and that are used to provide 14,000 mental health professionals into U.S. schools, especially in low-income and rural communities.
Source: NM Department of Justice
Santa Fe, NM – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with New Mexico and 15 other states yesterday in the latest court victory against the U.S. Department of Education’s unlawful discontinuation of previously approved mental health grants for K-12 schools.
“The Ninth Circuit’s decision reinforces what multiple courts have already found: the Department of Education’s across‑the‑board cancellation of school mental health grants was unlawful and unsupported,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “This ruling ensures that states like New Mexico will continue to have a fair opportunity to secure the mental health resources our students need, especially in rural and underserved communities that rely on these services. This is exactly why I led a multistate coalition in filing an amicus brief last year in support of Silver Consolidated Schools – to stop the unlawful dismantling on mental health programs and make sure our kids have the resources they need to succeed.”
Since last June, the states have been fighting the Department of Education’s abrupt and unlawful decision to discontinue grants that were previously approved and that are used to provide 14,000 mental health professionals into U.S. schools, especially in low-income and rural communities. The department had sent boilerplate notices to the grantees saying their projects no longer aligned with the Trump administration’s priorities, new priorities that the federal government never publicly announced.
The states won three rulings at the district court level, including a summary judgment order in December. Yesterday’s ruling is the plaintiffs’ second win from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In this latest order, a three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected the Department of Education’s motion to set aside a deadline, one the department itself had chosen, to issue grant continuation decisions. Following the order, District Court Judge Kymberly Evanson set a new deadline for the Department of Education to issue grant continuation determinations by March 2 and any new continuation awards by March 5, backdated to February 6.
“The Department’s discontinuation notices were not tailored to the specific grants and failed to explain what was wrong with each grantee’s project, which is not a sufficiently reasoned explanation for the agency’s decision to cancel the individual grants,” the judges wrote in the order.
But even with the plaintiffs’ multiple court wins, the department has dragged its feet, failing to deliver the bulk of the funds schools and other grantees had counted on to help address the youth mental health crisis. In New Mexico, grants totaling more than $4,489,000 have been cut by the unlawful discontinuation by the U.S. Department of Education.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown led the lawsuit. Joining him and Attorney General Torrez were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
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