Attorney General Aaron M. Frey, Coalition Sue Trump Administration for DOE Mental Health Funding Cuts

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Attorney General Aaron M. Frey, Coalition Sue Trump Administration for DOE Mental Health Funding Cuts

July 1, 2025
Attorney Generals Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Danna Hayes 

Danna.hayes@maine.gov

Attorney General Aaron M. Frey, Coalition Sue Trump Administration for DOE Mental Health Funding Cuts

AUGUSTA – Attorney General Frey joined a coalition of 16 state attorneys general filing a lawsuit late Monday against the U.S. Department of Education (“DOE”) 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 to permanently bring 14,000 mental health professionals into the schools that needed it the most. On April 29, 2025, the DOE sent boilerplate notices to grantees claiming that their grants now conflicted with the Trump Administration’s priorities and funding would be discontinued. 

“I cannot think of a more worthy priority than ensuring children receive mental health services they need,” said Attorney General Frey. “These funds were Congressionally designated, with bipartisan support, for this critical service in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy. Withholding these funds is not only cruel, it is illegal.”  

According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), grantees hired nearly 1,300 school mental health professionals and served nearly 775,000 students 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 DOE’s non-continuation decision means the Maine Department of Education would lose over $3 million in grant funding used to hire or retain 14 school-based mental health professionals. In 2024, nearly 5,000 Maine students received school-based mental health services as a result of the grant. The grant also supports graduate students studying to become school-based mental health providers.

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

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

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Related Documents

Complaint