Education Department Halt on Mental Health Grants Still Blocked

The Education Department failed to convince a federal appeals court to halt a preliminary injunction preventing it from discontinuing school mental health program grants.

The US Department of Education’s argument that the dispute fell under the Tucker Act and belongs in the US Court of Federal Claims was rejected by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a per curiam opinion on Thursday. The suing states aren’t claiming they’re automatically entitled to grant continuances past Dec. 31 and they’re only seeking vacatur of the discontinuation decisions, not monetary damages, the Ninth Circuit said.

The Trump administration has ...