Trump administration slashes over a billion dollars in funding for mental health subsidies
Breaking News: WASHINGINTON (our site) - The Trump crew is yankin' a cool billion in mental health bucks for schools, claimin' it's not in line with their vision.
Rollin' in this week, recipients of those funds got a harsh reality check - no more dough after 2023. Back in 2022, a piece of gun violence legislation, signed by ex-Prez Joe Biden, dropped a cool billion into programs to boost school staff with psychologists, counselors, and more mental health pros.
Now, come this new notice, it looks like the Dept. of Education's done a review and found these programs went against the civil rights law, clashed with the department's focus on merit and fairness, and well, they say it was just plain misuse of federal funds.
The deets were spilled on social media by conservative pundit Christopher Rufo. He cried foul, sayin' the money was used to push leftist racial nonsense and discrimination. He even dropped excerpts from grant docs showin' goals for hire quotas for non-white counselors and other DEI policies.
"No more moolah for leftist activists disguised as mental health help," declared Rufo.
Claimin' the cuts? The Dept. of Education's own admittance. Our site's got word of an update to Congress, and department officials said the GOP team has other ideas in the pipeline to support student mental health.
As for what's next, the announcement says the Dept. of Education plans to rethink and rebid the mental health program funds to better tackle students' behavioral health hurdles.
Trump's administration's been slashin' billions in federal grants they deem "inclusion-centric" and are dangerously close to slashin' billions more from education institutions over diversity issues. They say any policy that divides folks based on race is discrimination, and argue that inclusion policies often discriminate against white and Asian-Americans.
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This story was translated from English by our site's editor, assisted by a generative AI tool.
Enrichment Insights:- The article discusses the cancellation of $1 billion in mental health grants for schools over concerns about diversity-minded criteria in grant documents.- The grants were part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun violence legislation signed by former President Joe Biden in 2022.- The decision to cancel the grants was attributed to concerns about the grant documents containing demographic hiring quotas for mental health care providers, which the Trump administration considers discriminatory and illegal.- The article also notes that this is not the first time the Trump administration has cut federal grants related to inclusion policies and is planning to cut billions more from schools and universities over diversity practices.- Despite the cancellation of these grants, there is no announced alternative plan to replace them. The administration has only expressed a commitment to supporting evidence-based practices focused on improving students' mental health.
- The canceled mental health grants, initially allocated through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, were terminated due to concerns about demographic hiring quotas for mental health care providers in the grant documents, seen as discriminatory and illegal by the Trump administration.
- The withdrawal of these funds marks another instance of the Trump administration cutting federal grants related to inclusion policies, with plans to potentially withdraw billions more from education institutions over diversity issues.
- As the mental health program funds are reconsidered, it remains unclear if there will be an alternative plan to replace the canceled grants, with the administration only committing to evidence-based practices focused on improving students' mental health.
