Ninth Circuit won’t pause injunction against feds’ discontinuation of school mental health grants

(CN) — A Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday refused to stay a judge's order that prevents the U.S. Department of Education from canceling funding for mental health services at primary and secondary schools without going through the legally required procedures.

The three-judge appellate panel denied an emergency request for a stay pending appeal of the permanent injunction, which a federal district court judge in Seattle issued in December.

In a per curiam decision, the panel said it wasn't persuaded the Education Department could prevail against the states' claims. In addition, they said, there is no reason to think that the federal government suffered any irreparable harm from the injunction, because it could still cut the funding as long as it followed the prescribed procedures.

"The department has not made a strong showing it is likely to succeed on the merits of plaintiff states’ claims that the department’s discontinuation notices were contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious under the APA.," the panel said, referring to the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies must make substantive decisions.

"The department’s discontinuation notices were not tailored to the specific grants and failed to explain what was wrong with each grantee’s project, which is not a sufficiently reasoned explanation for the agency’s decision to cancel," the panel added.

Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Tallman, a Bill Clinton appointee, Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, a George W. Bush appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez, a Joe Biden appointee, presided on the pane

Representatives for the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“What’s at stake is nothing less than the well-being of our kids," Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said in response to the court's decision. "This administration prefers wasting time in court instead of providing the needed support for youth who are struggling. Thankfully, the appeals court said enough is enough."

A group of 16 states sued the Education Department in July for cutting about $1 billion in funding for mental health services at primary and secondary schools.

The department canceled the grants — which were awarded under the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program and which the plaintiffs say have been incredibly successful — without providing a detailed explanation other than that they conflict with the Trump administration's priorities, according to the lawsuit.

"These discontinuances threaten the very purpose of these programs — to protect the safety of our children by permanently increasing the number of mental health professionals providing mental health services to students in low-income and rural schools," the 16 states said in a complaint filed in federal court in Seattle.

Congress created the programs in 2018 and 2020, spurred by episodes of devastating school shootings, the plaintiffs argued. The multiyear grants are meant to address the shortage of school-based mental health service providers in low-income schools, and they aim to permanently bring 14,000 additional mental health professionals into U.S. schools that need it the most.

In their first year alone, the programs provided mental and behavioral health services to nearly 775,000 elementary and secondary students nationwide, and they have resulted in a 50% reduction in suicide risk at high-need schools, decreases in absenteeism and behavioral issues and increases in positive student-staff engagement, the states claimed.

In December, U.S. District Judge Kymberly Evanson, a Joe Biden appointee, granted summary judgment on the states' Administrative Procedure Act claims and issued a permanent injunction.

"The court has found serious, fundamental errors in the department’s directive procedure that led to unlawful discontinuation of the grants at issue, and also found that those actions caused significant disruption to plaintiff states," Evanson said. "Allowing the discontinuation decisions to remain in place would be far more disruptive than setting them aside to allow the department to make lawful continuation determinations."

The judge on Tuesday ordered the Education Department to file legally compliant continuation determinations for the grants no later than March 2.

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