ED declines to continue ~$1 billion in school mental-health grants flagged for DEI/gender-identity content

Funding actionED

Date
Actor
Department of Education (Office of Elementary and Secondary Education)
Agency
Department of Education (ED)
Type
Funding action
Section
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Summary

Implementing a February 2025 internal directive to re-review all grants against the administration's new priorities (no DEI, no "gender ideology"), ED sent non-continuation notices in April 2025 to more than 200 grantees under the School-Based Mental Health Services and Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration programs - Bipartisan Safer Communities Act money for school counselors and psychologists - citing recipients' diversity-related and identity-safe-services content. A June 2025 directive extended the re-review to grantees' "equity statements." (See section 9.)

Status

Sixteen states sued in early July 2025 (Washington v. ED, W.D. Wash. No. 2:25-cv-01228); the court preliminarily enjoined and then, on December 19, 2025, granted summary judgment and a permanent injunction vacating the discontinuances as arbitrary and capricious; the Ninth Circuit denied a stay (167 F.4th 1241 (9th Cir. 2026)); ED reinstated funding only through July 31, 2026 and pivoted to "termination" (2026 item below).

As recorded in the data of . Check the sources for anything newer.

Related litigation

Sources