Judge blocks federal termination of school mental health grants after Raoul lawsuit
Published 5:22 pm Thursday, July 30, 2026
CHICAGO — A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the U.S. Department of Education from terminating congressionally approved school-based mental health grants, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a coalition of 15 state attorneys general announced.
The order came just days before the Department of Education had threatened to begin cutting off grants that fund mental health services for more than 50,000 Illinois public school students, according to Raoul’s office.
“I am pleased the court granted this temporary restraining order to prevent the Trump administration’s unlawful interference with federal funding authorized by Congress, at the expense of our children’s mental health,” Raoul said. “These services support our students and help keep our schools and communities safe, and I will continue to fight for them.”
The grants trace back to a bipartisan congressional effort that appropriated $1 billion to permanently place 14,000 mental health professionals in schools nationwide, with a focus on low-income and rural communities, following a series of school shootings. According to a report cited by Raoul’s office from the National Association of School Psychologists, grantees served nearly 775,000 students and hired nearly 1,300 school mental health professionals in the program’s first year, while sampled programs showed a 50% reduction in suicide risk at high-need schools, along with decreases in absenteeism and behavioral problems.
In April 2025, the Department of Education notified Illinois and other coalition states that their grants would be discontinued, citing conflicts with the administration’s priorities. The department later said the grants had been targeted over their perceived support for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives. Raoul and the coalition sued earlier this month to stop the terminations, and the state attorneys general say the administration attempted to renew its effort to end the funding in late July despite an earlier court order barring it from doing so.
The new restraining order prevents the department from terminating the grants based on its new priorities or without following required legal procedures, including working with grant recipients to resolve concerns before cutting funding. A hearing on a preliminary injunction, which would offer longer-term protection for the grants, is scheduled for Aug. 24, the date the temporary order is set to expire.
Joining Raoul in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.
