U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, AL-07, condemned the Trump Administration for cutting off $15 million in grant funding awarded to Birmingham City Schools to expand school-based mental health services for students. In October 2024, Birmingham City Schools were awarded $15 million over a five-year period to hire and train mental health professionals and reduce school violence, beginning with $3.1 million in Fiscal Year 2025. The program’s unexpected elimination will prohibit the school system from hiring essential mental health personnel.
“This is a cruel betrayal of our children by the Trump Administration,” said Rep. Sewell. “This program, which was authorized by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, was created specifically to increase mental health resources for our nation’s students and address school violence. To cut mental health services because providers from diverse backgrounds are hired is outrageous!”
“Our communities, and especially our schools, are in dire need of greater mental health resources. I thought we could all agree on that,” continued Sewell. “Yet again, President Trump has shown that he is more interested in cutting taxes for billionaires than doing anything to help our public school students.”
The grant program was created by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act which passed with Rep. Sewell’s support in the wake of the deadly Uvalde school shooting. The Trump Administration reportedly cited potential violations of “Federal civil rights law” to explain its termination.
