California Attorney General Rob Bonta went back to federal court Monday, filing a motion that asks a judge to force the U.S. Department of Education to fully restore school mental health grants that were previously discontinued under a now-invalidated policy. The state says the department has been sending only a fraction of the continuation funding schools were expecting, creating a shortfall that puts program staff and services at risk. Bonta's filing urges the court to order full payments and to roll back what the state describes as tactics that leave grantees unable to plan for the coming school year.
According to SFGATE, the department has issued continuation awards that cover roughly six months instead of the usual full year and has told grantees the money will “continue under protest.” The outlet reports that the shortened payments have already pushed some programs to send out layoff notices and that the department is demanding extra paperwork, including reimbursement forms and early performance reports, before releasing additional funds. State officials argue those requirements will “effectively end some grantee projects” and have asked the court to enforce its earlier order.
December Ruling Restored The Grants
In December the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that the Education Department's discontinuation of the grants was unlawful and ordered the agency to unwind the cancellations and make lawful continuation decisions, as reflected in court filings at Justia. The judge found that the department's non‑continuation decisions were arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act and barred the agency from using new ideological priorities to deny awards. That ruling, along with appeals decisions that rejected requests for emergency stays, forms the legal backbone of Bonta's latest motion to enforce compliance.
Grants Had Measurable Benefits
The Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration and School‑Based Mental Health Services programs were set up to place roughly 14,000 additional mental health staff in schools, and early numbers show concrete gains. As detailed by the California Department of Justice, sampled projects cut student wait times for services by about 80 percent, retained 95 percent of the professionals they hired, and reduced suicide risk at high‑need sites by roughly half. California officials say those improvements, along with tens of millions of dollars earmarked for 21 state grantees, are on the line if continuation funding is not delivered in full.
What Bonta Asked For
Bonta's motion asks the court to find that the department's partial payments and new conditions violate the December judgment and to order immediate, full continuation awards for the affected grantees. The filing requests relief that would block the Education Department from layering on additional documentation requirements and would require the agency to release the rest of the year's funding so programs can keep staff in place. In a statement quoted by SFGATE, Bonta said, “We urge the Court to hold the Administration fully accountable for failing to comply with its order.”
Why This Matters For Schools
The Education Department first notified schools and universities last April that certain awards would be canceled as part of a review of programs tied to diversity, equity and inclusion, a move that sparked multistate litigation, according to AP. Districts and universities say the ongoing uncertainty makes it harder to hire and budget for the fall and could unravel rapid efforts to expand counseling and psychology services in high‑need schools. It will now be up to the courts to decide whether the department must convert the short‑term awards into full continuation funding and drop the added conditions that grantees say are blocking payments.
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