Overview

• Sixteen Democratic attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit July 1 in Washington state naming the Department of Education and Secretary Linda McMahon as defendants.
• The suit contends that in April the department abruptly terminated over $1 billion in Bipartisan Safer Communities Act grants designed to fund K-12 mental health services.
• The states argue the grant cancellations violated the Administrative Procedure Act and disregarded congressional mandates for youth counseling programs.
• Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell warned that the cuts will derail initiatives like UMass Boston’s Project Beacon, which trains school psychologists and counselors for high-need districts.
• Deputy Assistant Secretary Madi Biedermann defended the decision as necessary to eliminate race-based recruiting quotas she said were unrelated to student mental health.