Education Department cancels grants that garnered bipartisan support following Uvalde attack
The decision focuses on financial support intended to train mental health professionals for roles in local schools.
TroibNews 
The Education Department is set to cut around $1 billion in federal mental health grants that were approved by Congress following a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school in 2022. The agency determined that the funding contradicts the priorities established during the Trump administration.
This decision, disclosed by an agency official in a written notice obtained by PMG late Tuesday, pertains to grants included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. These grants were intended to assist states and higher education institutions in training mental health professionals for local school settings.
However, the future of this funding, which received bipartisan backing nearly three years ago in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting and was enhanced by hundreds of millions of dollars through significant gun safety legislation, is now in jeopardy.
“The Department has undertaken individualized review of grants and determined those receiving these notices reflect the prior Administration’s priorities and policy preferences and conflict with those of the current Administration,” stated Brandy Brown, a deputy assistant secretary in the department's legislative affairs office, on Tuesday evening. “The prior Administration’s preferences are not legally binding.”
Brown indicated that the department found the mental health grantees were either violating federal civil rights laws or were misusing federal funds. She emphasized the agency’s commitment to “prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education.”
The cancellation of these grants was initially reported by The Associated Press, leading to immediate criticism of Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the Trump administration from a senior Democratic appropriator and a prominent anti-gun violence organization.
“Republican leaders worked side by side with Democrats to allocate these funds to save lives and stop school shootings, and now the administration is trampling that progress," commented Emma Brown, executive director of the Giffords gun violence prevention organization, founded by former Arizona Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. “This decision will cost American children their lives.”
Connecticut Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro, who holds a significant position on the House appropriations committee, pointed out that the grant awards were instrumental in funding school psychologists, counselors, and social workers nationwide.
“Far too many students in this country have little to no access to mental health services," DeLauro remarked, highlighting her role in developing a school mental health grant program that received increased funding following the Uvalde attack. "The answer to this problem is not to take away this funding. By canceling these grants, Secretary McMahon is taking a wrecking ball to several years of bipartisan funding agreements and leaving millions of students without the mental health support they need at school.”
Brown mentioned the department’s intention to “re-envision and re-compete its mental health program funds to more effectively support students' behavioral health needs,” though she did not provide further details.
A department spokesperson indicated that the agency chose not to continue funding the grants beyond their initial award terms.
"These grants are intended to improve American students' mental health by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses," department spokesperson Madi Biedermann stated in a communication with PMG. "Instead, under the deeply flawed priorities of the Biden Administration, grant recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help," she added.
Olivia Brown for TROIB News
This decision, disclosed by an agency official in a written notice obtained by PMG late Tuesday, pertains to grants included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. These grants were intended to assist states and higher education institutions in training mental health professionals for local school settings.
However, the future of this funding, which received bipartisan backing nearly three years ago in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting and was enhanced by hundreds of millions of dollars through significant gun safety legislation, is now in jeopardy.
“The Department has undertaken individualized review of grants and determined those receiving these notices reflect the prior Administration’s priorities and policy preferences and conflict with those of the current Administration,” stated Brandy Brown, a deputy assistant secretary in the department's legislative affairs office, on Tuesday evening. “The prior Administration’s preferences are not legally binding.”
Brown indicated that the department found the mental health grantees were either violating federal civil rights laws or were misusing federal funds. She emphasized the agency’s commitment to “prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education.”
The cancellation of these grants was initially reported by The Associated Press, leading to immediate criticism of Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the Trump administration from a senior Democratic appropriator and a prominent anti-gun violence organization.
“Republican leaders worked side by side with Democrats to allocate these funds to save lives and stop school shootings, and now the administration is trampling that progress," commented Emma Brown, executive director of the Giffords gun violence prevention organization, founded by former Arizona Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. “This decision will cost American children their lives.”
Connecticut Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro, who holds a significant position on the House appropriations committee, pointed out that the grant awards were instrumental in funding school psychologists, counselors, and social workers nationwide.
“Far too many students in this country have little to no access to mental health services," DeLauro remarked, highlighting her role in developing a school mental health grant program that received increased funding following the Uvalde attack. "The answer to this problem is not to take away this funding. By canceling these grants, Secretary McMahon is taking a wrecking ball to several years of bipartisan funding agreements and leaving millions of students without the mental health support they need at school.”
Brown mentioned the department’s intention to “re-envision and re-compete its mental health program funds to more effectively support students' behavioral health needs,” though she did not provide further details.
A department spokesperson indicated that the agency chose not to continue funding the grants beyond their initial award terms.
"These grants are intended to improve American students' mental health by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses," department spokesperson Madi Biedermann stated in a communication with PMG. "Instead, under the deeply flawed priorities of the Biden Administration, grant recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help," she added.
Olivia Brown for TROIB News
