A US federal judge made the decision on Thursday cleared an internal U.S. Department of Education (DOE) directive to eliminate grants supporting educator training and diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) programs.
Under the Policy“Eliminating discrimination and fraud in departmental grant awards,” the DOE canceled 104 of 109 grants in the year Quality partnership for teachers (TQP) and Support effective educator development (SEED) programs. The canceled grants amounted to around $600 million.
Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction against the policy, writing that it was “arbitrary and capricious and inconsistent with the law,” including Administrative Procedure Act. She pointed out the government’s uncertainty over the definition of DEI, writing:
It is difficult to imagine how issues can be “anti-racist” and at the same time fall into the directive’s category of “discriminatory” activities. The records also show that the policy covers such broad and amorphous topics as “family and community in the classroom” and “social-emotional learning.” At first glance, these issues have no obvious connection to discrimination.
Then-Acting DOE Secretary Denise Carter issued the directive in response to two executive orders from President Trump. Executive Order No. 14173The law, issued on January 21, 2015, entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoreing Merit-Based Opportunity,” required the director of the Office of Management and Budget to “remove references to DEI and DEIA principles” and terminate DEI grants.
Executive Order No. 14190Issued on January 29, 2025, the law entitled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” required the Secretary of Education and others to develop a plan within 90 days to eliminate “government funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools.”
Judge Kelley gave examples of programs harmed by the eliminated grants. In California, TQP and SEED fund programs to train thousands of teachers and retain educators for high-need rural and urban school districts. According to Judge Kelley, “The number of graduates of traditional teacher preparation programs has declined by 35% over the past decade, and nearly 300,000 teachers leave the teaching profession each year.”
In Maryland, Frostburg State University received a five-year TQP grant worth $3.2 million Rural Educators for Appalachian Children Program. In Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts Amherst received a TQP grant of approximately $2.3 million in 2023 to create a program to train paraeducators to become licensed early childhood educators in two high-needs districts.
On March 6, 2025, an eight-state coalition led by New York decided to wanted a temporary restraining order (TRO) to block the new DOE policy. On March 10, 2025, U.S. Judge Myong J. Joun issued a TRO, valid until March 24, 2026, requiring the DOE to terminate all previously awarded TQP or SEED grants to recipients in plaintiff states.
The Trump administration appealed to the TRO and requested a stay. On March 13, Judge Joun denied a stay. The government appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit refused a stay on March 21st.
New York Attorney General Letitia James responded: Spell on X“Children in rural and underserved communities deserve access to qualified teachers and a quality education.”
