Federal Government Halts $1 Billion Allocation for School Mental Health Services
Rebooted Rant
Among the Shadows of a Controversial Decision
The Trump administration has opted to dial back on a whopping $1 billion in federal grants that schools across the nation have been utilizing to hire mental health professionals, from counselors to social workers. The United States Department of Education, in a rather unusual move, claims that the Biden administration prematurely snagged these funds, violating "the letter or spirit of Federal civil rights law."
These funds were part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act - a bill crafted in response to the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where a teenage gunman took the lives of 19 elementary school students, two adults, and injured 17 more. The act allocated federal funds to address the escalating student mental health crisis.
Superintendent Derek Fialkiewicz in Corbett, Oregon, a largely rural district with 1,100 students east of Portland, saw his district more than triple its mental health professional count, predominantly thanks to these grants. Before the grants, Fialkiewicz admits that his district only had two counselors, a number he deemed insufficient, particularly post-COVID.
Fialkiewicz's district, in early 2023, received a federal grant that covered the salaries and benefits of five new, trained social workers. "It's been nothing short of amazing," Fialkiewicz gushes about the difference these federal monies – and the social workers they funded – have made in his community.
However, in a twist of irony, Fialkiewicz was left reeling when he learned that the Trump administration would be stripping schools of this federal support. Just a day after a U.S. Department of Education employee had given Corbett the green light to add a telehealth texting service for students, Fialkiewicz received an email terminating the grant, hardly a 24-hour turnaround.
Backing the Mental Health Wave
Despite the grim tidings, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, along with the mental health funding it brought forth, enjoyed robust Republican backing even years after its passage.
In a 2024 opinion piece, Sens. John Cornyn, Susan Collins, and Thom Tillis – the bill's Republican supporters – penned, "Too often, adolescents with untreated mental health issues become the very perpetrators who commit acts of violence." Their goal was to "prepare and place 14,000 mental health professionals in schools."
Mary Wall, a former K-12 policy and budget overseer for the U.S. Department of Education, claims that about 260 school districts in nearly every state received a portion of the $1 billion – in five-year grants, doled out in installments.
It appears these districts will now be faced with the arduous task of making ends meet without the funds they had banked on but won't be receiving.
"The nurturing of new mental health professionals, as well as those already in the trenches, is at stake," Wall warns.
In Corbett, Fialkiewicz brace himself for the reality that his grant money, intended to last until December 2027, will instead stop two years early. Once the funds run dry, he fears his district will be scrambling with just two counselors on staff once more.
Fialkiewicz can't help but feel disillusioned by the prospect of having to let go of federally funded social workers. "To provide these vital services only to have them snatched away for reasons completely beyond our control is abysmal," he laments. "I feel especially sad for our students because they'll miss out on the much-needed support."
Eroding the Foundation
An August 2024 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that a staggering 84% of Americans believe that school staff play a pivotal role in identifying signs of mental health issues in students.
In a statement to NPR, Madi Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications at the Department of Education, justified the decision to discontinue the grants:
"Recipients employed these funds to carry out race-based actions, such as recruiting quotas, in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could harm the very students these grants aim to assist. We owe American families the assurance that taxpayer dollars are being spent on evidence-based practices genuinely focused on improving students' mental health."
However, the 2022 federal grant notice specifically stipulated that the services provided had to be "evidence-based." Wall also refuted the department's characterization, asserting, "The focus of these grants was unquestionably on providing evidence-based mental health support to students. Any claim that this is a DEI program is a smokescreen for the real issue."
The Trump administration and the Education Department have taken a hardline stance against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as part of a broader crusade. Last month, the department threatened to revoke K-12 schools' federal funding if they continue with DEI programming that the department may deem discriminatory.
In response to a request for clarification from NPR regarding the department's belief that these mental health grants had somehow collided with Trump's anti-DEI policy, it offered fragments from districts' grant applications, in which one grantee mentioned that school counselors should be trained to identify and challenge systemic injustices, antiracism, and the pervasiveness of white supremacy in order to effectively support diverse communities.
The initial federal request for grant applications also urged districts to prioritize "increasing the number of school-based mental health services providers in high-need districts, increasing the number of services providers from diverse backgrounds or serving communities they hail from, and ensuring that all service providers are trained in inclusive practices."
The email Fialkiewicz received, announcing the grant's cancellation, claimed that the actions funded by the grant were in violation of federal civil rights law, "conflict with the Department's policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education; undermine the well-being of the students these programs are designed to help; or constitute an inappropriate use of federal funds."
When queried if diversity played any role in his district's grant application, Fialkiewicz responded:
"Yes, in our application, we did mention, because it was a prerequisite, that we'd employ equitable hiring practices. And that's exactly what we did. And in my book, equitable hiring practices means you hire the best person for the job. That's equitable."
And now, those social workers he hired might find themselves out with nowhere to land.
© 2025 NPR
- The $1 billion in federal grants, initially used to hire mental health professionals in schools, have been withdrawn by the Trump administration, citing a violation of federal civil rights law.
- Superintendent Derek Fialkiewicz, from Corbett, Oregon, had increased his district's mental health professionals count with the help of these grants, but now faces the challenge of maintaining services without them.
- The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which allocated these funds, had enjoyed robust Republican backing, with Senators John Cornyn, Susan Collins, and Thom Tillis aiming to place 14,000 mental health professionals in schools.
- The Trump administration's decision to discontinue these grants has raised concerns about the future of mental health education and self-development services in schools across the nation.
- The United States Department of Education defended its decision by stating that some recipients employed funds for race-based actions unrelated to mental health, but this claim was refuted by Mary Wall, a former K-12 policy and budget overseer for the department.
- In a statement, the American Psychiatric Association found that 84% of Americans believe that school staff play a crucial role in identifying signs of mental health issues in students, emphasizing the importance of mental health and health-and-wellness programs in schools.
