Attorney General Neronha, coalition sue Trump Administration for mental health funding cuts

"From bullying to loneliness to the ever-present fear of violence, including school shootings, our kids desperately need the resources made possible by these grants."

From a press release:

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha joined a coalition of 16 state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit late Monday against the U.S. Department of Education for illegally cutting congressionally approved funding for mental health programs in K-12 schools.

After the tragic deaths of 19 students and two 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 Department of Education sent boilerplate notices to grantees claiming their grants now conflicted with the Trump Administration’s priorities and funding would be discontinued.

“Growing up in 2025 presents a unique set of challenges, many of which have detrimental impacts on our kids’ overall mental health,” said Attorney General Neronha. “The good news: mental health is discussed more openly and treated more widely than ever before. The bad news: this Administration is again attempting to unlawfully revoke federal funding, passed by Congress, to help school-age children deal with the myriad of issues they confront on a daily basis. From bullying to loneliness to the ever-present fear of violence, including school shootings, our kids desperately need the resources made possible by these grants. And we will always fight for the safety of our children.”

According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), grantees served nearly 775,000 students and hired nearly 1,300 school mental health professionals 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.

Rhode Island needs the resources provided by these programs. Youth and families across the state are facing serious mental health problems, many of which were impacted and exacerbated by trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Rhode Island, one in five (19%) of children ages 6-17 has a diagnosable mental health problem, and one in ten (10%) has a significant functional impairment. Further, data from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) among Rhode Island high school students revealed that 37.8% of students felt sad or hopeless, 17.1% of RI high school students reported that they seriously considered attempting suicide, 14.5% of Rhode Island high school students report that they had planned how they would attempt suicide during the last 12 months before the survey, and 9.7% of high school students attempted suicide. In addition to the growing mental health concerns among high school youth, 32% of students reported that they had been bullied in the past year.

The attorneys general filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaint alleges that the Department of Education’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.

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