A federal appeals court granted temporary protection for funding tied to 49 school‑mental‑health projects, preserving payments to programs that were targeted for termination earlier this year by the Education Department. The 9th Circuit’s decision keeps those awards in place while litigation continues, but it left unresolved the fate of other applicants awaiting new awards and raised questions about the Department’s ability to reallocate funds before year‑end. The dispute began when the Trump administration notified more than 200 grant recipients in April that their projects would lose federal support; grantees and districts have since mounted legal challenges and lobbied Congress to restore funding for school psychologists and training initiatives.