Colorado sues U.S. Department of Education over termination of youth mental health funding
DENVER, Colo. (KRDO) -- Attorney General Phil Weiser joined 15 other state attorneys in suing the U.S. Department of Education for discontinuing $1 billion in congressionally approved grant funding for educational institutions and local governments to address the youth mental health crisis.
According to Weiser, multiple schools in Colorado are at risk of losing close to $10 million in funding, including the University of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Denver.
“Finding solutions to the mental health crisis hurting our children is top of mind for me and people in every Colorado community. This illegal action by the U.S. Department of Education to rip away critical funding couldn’t be happening at a worse time,” said Attorney General Weiser.
He says this funding would go to the Colorado Department of Education, which would hire new employees, strengthen partnerships with higher education institutions, and expand course access for college students. Weiser said the funding promises to support 955 new, retrained, or re-specialized school-based mental health professionals.
Despite their hope in the grants, Weiser says the Department of Education sent notices to grantees, including state education agencies, local education agencies, and institutes of higher education, claiming that their grants conflicted with the Trump administration’s priorities and would not be continued.
Weiser's team said the administration admitted in statements to the media that it targeted grants in the plaintiffs’ states for their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, which the states argue is not a legal basis for discontinuation.
Weiser argues that the Trump administration’s decision to discontinue funding through a notice without mentioning grantees’ performance violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the spending clause, and the separation of powers.
According to Weiser, if the funds remain discontinued, the decision could also end up worsening the mental health crisis by breeding mistrust in mental health care and feelings of abandonment in kids who had been benefiting from the programs.
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