$600 Million in Teacher Grants Survive as Judge Blocks DEI Cuts
September 26, 2026 · Frisian News
A federal judge struck down the Education Department's 2025 directive that canceled $600 million in teacher-training grants, ruling the policy violated federal administrative law and lacked any coherent criteria for identifying DEI programs.
$600 million in federal teacher-training grants cannot be canceled on DEI grounds, a federal judge ruled Thursday, blocking a directive that had already wiped out more than 90 percent of awards under two programs that fund K-12 teacher preparation.
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley struck down the Education Department's February 2025 directive, finding it violated the Administrative Procedure Act. The directive had canceled 109 grants across the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development programs, which together cover the training pipeline for classroom teachers nationwide. Kelley, appointed by President Joe Biden, ruled the policy "arbitrary and capricious," writing that the department had no discernible criteria for deciding which programs counted as DEI, according to Hoodline's report on the ruling.
Eight states brought the suit: California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin. They argued that thousands of teachers' salaries ran through the grants and that cutting the money would deepen the nationwide teacher shortage, according to Hoodline. Kelley agreed, writing that thousands of teachers and those in training pipelines would be affected. The agency gave no notice and accepted no public comments before pulling the funding, Inside Higher Ed reported.
The department said the grants had funded "divisive ideologies," including DEI, antiracism, social justice activism, and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy. Asked by Inside Higher Ed for comment, press secretary Savannah Newhouse wrote: "Taxpayer dollars should support preparing teachers for meaningful student learning, expanding the pipeline of high-quality teachers and retaining top talent, not funding divisive ideology or racial preferences." Kelley's ruling found no evidence the department had applied those terms consistently before canceling grants.
Among the 109 terminated awards were 40 grants to universities and institutions across the eight plaintiff states, as court filings cited by Hoodline show. Programs the states described included training teachers in second languages, recruiting educators to high-poverty schools, and meeting special education requirements.
The financial impact reached beyond state governments. The National Center for Teacher Residencies told K-12 Dive, as cited by Hoodline, that the cuts cost it nearly $1.2 million, affecting 128 teacher residents already enrolled across 13 programs and blocking 190 more from starting.
The case has already reached the Supreme Court once. In April 2025, the court's 6-3 conservative majority allowed the administration to continue canceling grants while litigation proceeded, putting a lower-court reinstatement order on hold, according to CNBC as cited by Hoodline. At that point, roughly $65 million in grant payments remained outstanding.
Kelley's ruling does not hand back any money. She wrote that grantees seeking to recover lost funds must proceed through the Court of Federal Claims, not her court. Her authority extended only to whether the directive complied with administrative law, and it did not.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to the Charlotte Observer's request for comment on the ruling, according to Hoodline. The $600 million remains unrecovered, and the fight moves to another court.
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Published September 26, 2026 · Frisian News