MA AG Seeks Court Order to Enforce School Mental Health Grants

MA Attorney General Press Releases

Filed March 18th, 2026

Detected March 19th, 2026

Summary

The Massachusetts Attorney General's office has filed a motion to enforce a court order requiring the U.S. Department of Education to fully fund school mental health grants. The Department previously awarded only six months of funding, violating a December 2025 order.

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What changed

The Massachusetts Attorney General's office, on March 18, 2026, filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking to enforce a December 19, 2025 order. This order mandated that the U.S. Department of Education cease its unlawful discontinuation of school mental health funding programs established by Congress and issue new decisions in compliance with the law. The AG's office alleges that the Department's subsequent decision on March 2, 2026, to award grantees only six months of funding, instead of the standard full year, violates the court's order and will effectively end some projects and severely burden others.

This action highlights the ongoing dispute over federal grants for school mental health services, specifically the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program (MHSP) and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program (SBMH). Regulated entities, including state and local education agencies and institutions of higher education, should be aware that the AG's office is actively litigating to ensure full compliance with court orders regarding these grants. The AG's office is pushing back against federal actions that they argue unlawfully target grants and harm students' access to critical mental health support, particularly in light of the Trump Administration's alleged targeting of grants for DEI efforts.

What to do next

Monitor court proceedings regarding the enforcement motion.
Review grant agreements for potential impacts of partial funding decisions.

Source document (simplified)

This page, AG Campbell Asks Court To Enforce Order Protecting School Mental Health Grants In Case Against Trump Administration, is offered by
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Press Release

Press Release AG Campbell Asks Court To Enforce Order Protecting School Mental Health Grants In Case Against Trump Administration

For immediate release: 3/18/2026
- Office of the Attorney General

Media Contact

Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary

Phone

Call Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

Online

Email Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at Allie.Zuliani@mass.gov

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to enforce its December 19, 2025 order, which required the U.S. Department of Education (Department) to set aside its unlawful discontinuation decisions on school mental health funding programs established by Congress and to issue new decisions in full compliance with the law.

On March 2, 2026, the Department decided to only award grantees six months of funding instead of providing funding for the full year, as is standard practice. The Department’s decision to deny grantees’ access to a full year of funding violates the Court’s order because the decision will effectively end some grantee projects and severely burden many other grantees. Without the certainty of a full year of funding, some grantees will lose essential staff and will be unable to properly plan and budget for the fall semester.

“Last year, the court made clear that the Trump Administration does not have the power to arbitrarily revoke grant funding that provides critical mental health services to our students,” said AG Campbell. “The Administration has not fully complied with that order, leaving students across the country without the resources and mental health support they need in the midst of a nationwide mental health epidemic affecting our young people. I will continue to fight for this funding and push back against unlawful federal actions that harm our children.”

Spurred by episodes of devastating loss from school shootings, Congress established and funded the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program (MHSP) in 2018 and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program (SBMH) in 2020 to increase students’ access to mental health services. On or about April 29, 2025, the Department notified grantees — including state education agencies, local education agencies, and institutes of higher education — that their grants would be canceled for allegedly conflicting with the Trump Administration’s priorities. In the press, the Trump Administration admitted that it targeted the States’ grants for their perceived diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. In July 2025, AG Campbell and the coalition filed a lawsuit against the Department over the discontinuation of the grants, and in December 2025, the coalition secured a permanent decision declaring that the Department acted illegally and requiring the Department to make new continuation decisions.

In the motion to enforce, AG Campbell and the coalition assert that:

The Department is continuing to violate the Court’s order. In their most recent act of noncompliance, the Department put new, unnecessary rules in place that achieve the same result as canceling some grants and severely hinder other grantees’ ability to serve students.
By claiming the grants “will continue under protest,” the Department is making grantees jump through unnecessary hoops — like filling out complicated reimbursement forms that historically have only been required for grantees who mismanaged funds and forcing grantees to submit a meaningless performance report before any new data is available.
The Department has also threatened to withhold six months of funding that grantees would have normally received and need for the fall semester. MHSP addresses the shortage of school-based mental health service providers by awarding multi-year grants to projects that expand the pipeline for counselors, social workers, and psychologists through partnerships between institutes of higher education and local educational agencies. SBMH funds multi-year grants to increase the number of professionals that provide school-based mental health services to students through direct hiring and retention incentives. The ultimate goal of the programs is to permanently bring 14,000 additional mental health professionals into U.S. schools.

The programs have been an incredible success. In their first year, the programs provided mental and behavioral health services to nearly 775,000 elementary and secondary students nationwide. Sampled projects showed real results: a 50% reduction in suicide risk at high-need schools, decreases in absenteeism and behavioral issues, and increases in positive student-staff engagement. Data also showed recruitment and retention efforts are working – in the first year of the programs, nearly 1,300 school mental health professionals were hired and 95% of those hired were retained. Importantly, these newly hired school-based mental health providers were able to create an 80% reduction in student wait time for services. The grants have helped schools hire hundreds of psychologists, counselors, and social workers who have served thousands of students, including in the state’s most economically disadvantaged and rural communities. By all markers, these programs work.

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

Media Contact

Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary

Phone

Call Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

Online

Email Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at Allie.Zuliani@mass.gov

Office of the Attorney General

The Attorney General is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Media Contact

Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary

Phone

Call Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543

Online

Email Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at Allie.Zuliani@mass.gov

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