Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined attorneys general from 14 other states in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, seeking to block the planned termination of federally funded school-based mental health grants.
Brown’s office says the cuts, scheduled to take effect at the end of July, would cost Maryland schools and universities more than $3 million and jeopardize counseling and mental health services for students.
According to the lawsuit, the grants were created through bipartisan congressional funding to expand mental health services in K-12 schools following a series of school shootings. Brown argues the Education Department is attempting to end the grants despite a previous federal court order that found similar grant cancellations unlawful. Among the Maryland programs affected are Bowie State University’s Ujima Center for School Counseling Scholars, which could lose more than $1.6 million, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s School-Based Mental Health Fellowship, which faces the loss of nearly $1.8 million. The coalition is seeking a preliminary injunction to keep the grants in place while the case proceeds.
