A Biden-appointed judge on Monday ordered the Department of Education (ED) to restore mental health grants it canceled for practicing gender and racial ideology.
The preliminary injunction forces the department to continue funding, as legal proceedings continue, several programs it notified schools in April it would not renew at the end of the year. After canceling the Biden-era grants ED said “promote divisive ideologies based on race and sex,” the department rolled out a new version of mental health grants for schools in September that prohibited the funds from being used for “gender ideology, political activism, racial stereotyping, or hostile environments for students of particular races.”
“Recognizing the prevalence of violence and traumatic crises in schools, and the resultant negative effect on the learning environment, Congress allocated appropriations to the Department to ‘support learning environments where students feel safe, supported, and ready to learn,’” the court order reads.
The lawsuit was filed in June by 16 Democrat-led states that claim the cancellations prevented schools from offering services “critical to their students’ well-being, safety, and academic success.” The states also allege the cancellation violates ED’s General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) which requires applicants for federal grants “address equity concerns.”
“The Department stands by our grant decisions and is working with the Justice Department to appeal this order,” an ED spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our new competition is strengthening the mental health grant programs in contrast to the Biden Administration’s approach that used these programs to promote divisive ideologies based on race and sex.”
The new grants prioritize “high-need” schools.
The first Trump administration began issuing grants to fund mental health services at schools following the 2018 Parkland shooting, but the program was hijacked by the Biden administration in 2022 to prioritize “programs that are inclusive and that prepare school-based mental health services providers to create culturally and linguistically inclusive and identity-safe environments” and “partner with historically black colleges and universities; tribal colleges and universities; and minority-serving institutions.” While the GEPA makes mention of addressing “barriers based on gender, race, color, national origin, disability, and age,” the Biden administration expanded the definition of equity to include things like gender identity.
“It’s a relief to students and their families that a large number of these programs are shielded for now,” Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement. “We’ll continue this fight in court until the administration agrees to follow the law and the will of Congress in supporting the mental health of young Americans.”
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