Fifteen states sue over ED's plan to terminate school mental-health grants; TRO issued July 27

Funding actionED

Date
Actor
Department of Education (defendant); 15 states (plaintiffs)
Agency
Department of Education (ED)
Type
Funding action
Section
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Summary

After the December 19, 2025 permanent injunction forced ED to continue the mental-health grants, ED funded them only through July 31, 2026 and notified grantees in June 2026 that it would "terminate" some or all grants - effective potentially immediately, with review available only in the Court of Federal Claims - still applying the unpublished no-DEI/no-"gender ideology" priorities. ED's reconstituted version of the programs (new priorities issued July 2025 barring funds from "promoting or endorsing gender ideology"; $208 million re-awarded December 2025) strips the identity-related content of the original grants. Fifteen states sued July 10, 2026 (State of Washington v. U.S. Dept. of Education, W.D. Wash. No. 2:26-cv-02409).

Status

Judge Kymberly Evanson granted a TRO on July 27, 2026 enjoining the termination plan (expires Aug. 24, 2026, preliminary-injunction hearing to be scheduled), finding the plan likely arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to GEPA and civil-rights termination procedures. (See sections 9 and 10.) Update, Sept. 23, 2026: On Sept. 22, 2026, the court (Evanson, J.) granted the plaintiff states' amended motion for a preliminary injunction blocking the Department's plan to terminate the school mental-health grants, converting the July 27, 2026 TRO into a preliminary injunction (W.D. Wash. No. 2:26-cv-02409, ECF 106), and ordered the Department's counsel to file a status report on compliance no later than Sept. 25, 2026.

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