Jul 15, 2024; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump is seen in the audience during the first day of the Republican National Convention. The RNC kicked off the first day of the convention with the roll call vote of the states. Mandatory Credit: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY
Washington D.C. – The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow it to move forward with cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for teacher training programs, escalating a legal battle that could have significant consequences for schools across the country.
The administration’s request follows a federal judge’s decision in Boston to temporarily block the cuts, citing their immediate impact on teacher training initiatives designed to combat an ongoing nationwide teacher shortage. An appeals court declined to lift the order, prompting the administration to take the case to the nation’s highest court.
At the heart of the controversy are two key programs—the Teacher Quality Partnership and the Supporting Effective Educator Development grants—that provide more than $600 million in funding for teacher preparation, particularly in high-demand areas such as math, science, and special education. States that have sued to prevent the cuts argue that these initiatives have played a vital role in increasing teacher retention rates and ensuring that educators remain in the profession beyond five years.
The administration, however, contends that the programs represent unnecessary spending and that states should be able to fund these efforts on their own—at least temporarily—if they deem them essential. The cuts are part of a broader push by President Donald Trump’s administration to overhaul the Department of Education, which has included eliminating contracts the administration considers “woke” and wasteful.
The legal fight is unfolding against the backdrop of other major court battles involving the administration. The Supreme Court has yet to rule on an appeal concerning Trump’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship and has pending cases regarding the rehiring of federal employees. In a similar vein, the justices previously declined to immediately allow Trump to remove the head of a federal watchdog agency, though a lower court ruling ultimately forced Office of Special Counsel head Hampton Dellinger from his post.
In the teacher funding case, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, a Biden nominee, found that the administration likely violated federal law by halting the programs without proper explanation. The lawsuit, spearheaded by California and supported by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin, argues that the cuts are politically motivated, rooted in an effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within education.
The Supreme Court has called for a response to the administration’s appeal by Friday. If the high court grants the request, the cuts could proceed while the case works its way through the legal system—a move that could upend training programs for thousands of teachers and leave states scrambling for funding.
For now, the fate of teacher training dollars remains uncertain, but the battle over education funding has once again found itself at the center of a national political showdown.
