California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from seven other Democratic states are suing the Trump administration, claiming it illegally terminated federal grant funding for K-12 teacher preparation programs – a decision the attorneys general say will ultimately hurt students at a time when the nation is already facing teacher shortages.
The grants provide stipends or other supports for individuals training to become teachers, which help with efforts to recruit and retain educators and increases the number of qualified teachers – especially for hard-to-fill positions, Bonta said during a press conference at the state Department of Justice building in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, March 6.
Nationwide, about one in eight teaching positions were vacant or filled by uncertified teachers in 2024, according to Bonta’s office. Due to teacher shortages, schools end up with larger class sizes, canceled courses or teachers without the proper credentialing, Bonta said, adding that President Donald Trump will “only make these problems worse” by ending the grant funding.
“Sadly, the people Trump’s hurting most of all are our kids – kids in rural areas, kids in urban areas, kids in high-poverty communities, in high-needs schools, kids who need and deserve extra support and additional resources, kids just trying to learn,” Bonta said.
According to the lawsuit – filed Thursday in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts – the U.S. Department of Education in February notified grant recipients that it was terminating approximately $600 million in grants, effectively ending the Teacher Quality Partnership and the Supporting Effective Educator Development grant programs.
These programs educate, place and provide supports to aspiring or new teachers in hard-to-staff schools, particularly in rural and underserved communities, and in hard-to-fill courses like math and special education.
The Trump administration did not respond to a message seeking comment about Thursday’s lawsuit. But in February, the Department of Education announced it had cut $600 million in grants for organizations that train teachers. The programs promoted “divisive” concepts like diversity, equity and inclusion; critical race theory and social justice activism, the department said at the time.
In California, institutions that provide teacher preparatory programs were informed that they would lose a total of $148 million, according to Bonta, who is co-leading the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump administration.
Cal State L.A. had previously been awarded $7.5 million for a teacher residency program focusing on special education, secondary STEM education and bilingual education but was informed it would lose funding, according to Bonta’s office. The ending of this program would impact classrooms in the Los Angeles and Pasadena Unified school districts.
A. Dee Williams, an administrator at Cal State L.A., said during the press conference that making sure students have qualified teachers “isn’t about politics.”
“This is about your kids having access to the best, most well-prepared teacher in their classroom. Your kids deserve better, and this is why we’re fighting – to make sure that they do,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Education also terminated an ongoing $8 million grant to UCLA that educates middle school principals and recruits individuals to teach middle school math, science, English and social studies.
The loss of this program would impact schools in L.A. Unified as well as campuses in the Norwalk La Mirada, Glendale and Lancaster Unified school districts and impact over 15,000 students, according to Bonta’s office.
Because such funding had previously been approved by Congress, Thursday’s lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
Attorneys general or Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin are also involved in this suit.