Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey and a coalition of 15 other states are suing the US Department of Education over recent funding cuts for mental health services in K-12 schools.
After the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Congress approved $1 billion to add more mental health professionals to schools across the country.
But Frey said in April, the DOE notified the states that the funding would be rescinded because the grants no longer met the priorities of the Trump administration.
Maine will lose more than $3 million in grant funding used to hire or retain 14 school mental health professionals in the fall, Frey said. Last year, 5,000 students in the state received mental health services as a result of the grant, he added.
“I cannot think of a more worthy priority than ensuring children receive mental health services they need,” Frey said in a statement. “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."
The complaint, filed in federal court in the western district of Washington, asks a federal judge to rule that the funding cuts are illegal and a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and US Constitution.
The attorneys general are also seeking an injunction to restore the funding.
