FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts
[email protected]
410-576-7009
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown secured a final court order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts finding the Trump administration’s termination of grant funding for K-12 teacher preparation programs unlawful. Beginning in February 2025, Maryland institutions received letters purporting to terminate millions in critical funding to address the state’s ongoing teacher shortage through teacher preparation programs.
These programs are designed to create a pipeline for teachers serving rural and urban communities and teaching harder-to-fill positions like math and science. The programs have been shown to increase teacher retention rates and ensure that educators remain in the profession beyond the crucial first five years. Maryland joined a multistate coalition in challenging the terminations, and yesterday, the court granted its motion for summary judgment, finding the Trump administration’s termination of these grants is arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
“A highly qualified teacher can change the course of a student’s life, and that starts with investing in the programs that train them,” said Attorney General Brown. “This ruling protects that investment and ensures Maryland schools can continue building the teacher pipeline our students, especially in our most under-resourced communities, depend on.”
In 2024, more than 400,000 teaching positions in the U.S. – representing about one in eight of all teaching positions nationwide – were vacant or filled by uncertified teachers. When schools are unable to find qualified teachers, students suffer. Teacher shortages can result in larger class sizes, cancelled courses, or classes staffed with teachers less able to teach a subject.
To address the nationwide teacher shortage, especially for hard-to-fill subject areas like math, science, and special education and in hard-to-staff school districts in rural and urban areas, Congress established and allocated funding pursuant to the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development grant programs to train teachers, create a new teacher pipeline, and improve teacher quality. The U.S. Department of Education subsequently awarded grants and obligated funds to states’ public universities and associated nonprofits under these programs to do exactly what Congress mandated – provide teacher training, placement, retention and new teacher pipeline development in the states.
Beginning on February 7, 2025, the Department of Education terminated, with immediate effect, grants awarded to K-12 teacher preparation programs in Maryland and nationwide. Hundreds of millions in grants have been terminated. In Maryland alone, the Department provided notice of termination of grants worth millions in funding across a number of grants. These terminations have been felt across Maryland schools, who rely on these programs to bring teachers into their classrooms. For example, when grants were terminated from Towson University, at least one project had over $800,000 remaining in funds committed by the Department. Similarly, the University of Maryland College Park had one project with over $870,000 remaining in committed funds. Yesterday’s court order blocks these harmful terminations moving forward.
Attorney General Brown was joined in filing the lawsuit by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin.
###