School-based mental health professionals working across Snohomish County face layoffs before the 2026-27 school year if the federal government succeeds in terminating grants that fund their positions.

Everett Public Schools is among the 35 districts in the affected service area. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed a 15-state lawsuit on Friday, July 10, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to block the U.S. Department of Education from cutting nine school mental health grants statewide.

The grants are worth more than $20 million to Washington schools and universities, according to Brown's office.

The federal government has said terminations could begin Thursday, July 31, if a court rules in its favor by July 30. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 24.

What's at stake locally

Northwest Educational Service District 189, which serves Everett Public Schools and 34 other districts in Snohomish, Island, San Juan, Skagit, and Whatcom counties, holds a five-year, $11.9 million School-Based Mental Health Services grant.

By the end of 2025, NWESD 189 had hired 20 licensed behavioral-health providers to work in member school districts, according to Education Week.

"The programs have been operating under complete uncertainty of how or if they could continue," Natalie Gustafson, NWESD 189's director of behavioral-health and prevention services, told Education Week in March, before the latest termination notices were issued.

Everett Public Schools has not commented on whether its on-site therapists and community partnerships depend on the NWESD 189 grant.

What the grants fund

Congress created the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program and the School-Based Mental Health Services program after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 students and two teachers. Lawmakers allocated $1 billion with the goal of placing 14,000 mental health professionals in high-need schools, particularly in low-income and rural communities.

In their first year, the programs served nearly 775,000 students nationwide. The attorney general's filing cites program data showing a 50% reduction in suicide-risk indicators at participating schools, along with lower absenteeism and fewer behavioral problems.

This is the sixth time Washington has gone to court over these grants. The Education Department first notified recipients in April 2025 that funding would be discontinued because the projects conflicted with the administration's priorities.

Brown led a coalition lawsuit in July 2025, and a federal judge ruled in December 2025 that the discontinuations were unlawful, permanently barring the department from carrying them out "through any means."

The department then relabeled "discontinuations" as "terminations." Brown's new lawsuit argues this violates the court's permanent injunction, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the U.S. Constitution.

"This administration already tried to take money from our schools, money that was supposed to support student mental health, and they lost," Brown said Friday. "Now they're trying using a new tactic to try for the same goal."

The complaint warns that terminating the grants could lead to layoffs of mental health professionals, end scholarships for graduate students training in school-based careers, and increase Medicaid costs as students lose services.

What's next

The Thursday, July 24, hearing in Seattle will determine whether the grants survive past July 31. Families with questions can reach Everett Public Schools Student Support Services at 425-385-4134. The case is Washington v. U.S. Department of Education, No. 2:26-cv-02409.