By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) -A federal judge on Monday ordered U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to temporarily restore grants for teacher preparation in eight states that it nixed as part of its efforts to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
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District Judge Myong Joun in Boston issued a temporary restraining order at the behest of eight Democratic states attorneys general who challenged the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to terminate grants awarded through two federal programs designed to support training teachers.
Joun, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden, said that standardized letters the department sent to grant recipients provided no individualized analysis of their programs or “no reasoned explanation” for the decision to cancel the funding.
Without a court order restoring the funding, Joun said “dozens of programs upon which public schools, public universities, students, teachers, and faculty rely will be gutted.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who co-led the lawsuit, in a statement called the ruling a “crucial early victory to ensure these grant dollars continue to flow and our kids gets the passionate, qualified, good teachers they deserve.”
The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During a hearing earlier on Monday, Michael Fitzgerald, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, had argued the Education Department was within its rights to cancel the grants.
Trump, a Republican, and billionaire business ally Elon Musk, the architect of the Department of Government Efficiency, have pledged to dismantle the Education Department as part of their plan to rapidly slash government spending and the size of the federal workforce.
In letters notifying grant recipients about its decision to end the grants, the department said it was because they provided funding for programs that promote DEI or other initiatives that it said discriminate on the basis of race.
By February 17, the Education Department said it had canceled more than $600 million in grants to institutions and non-profits that it said were used to train teachers and education agencies on “divisive ideologies,” which it said included DEI, “critical race theory” and “anti-racism.”
In a lawsuit co-led by the state attorneys general from California, Massachusetts and New Jersey, a group of Democratic-led states argued the cuts effectively eliminated the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development grant programs.
They said the cuts to grant funding to public universities and non-profits would result in layoffs or reductions in hours for university staff and the imminent shutdown of many teacher preparation programs, exacerbating a teacher shortage.
The states argued the Education Department lacked authority to unilaterally cancel the grants after already issuing them pursuant to programs authorized by Congress.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Jamie Freed and Kate Mayberry)
