ATTORNEY GENERAL RAOUL SECURES COURT RULING FINDING TERMINATION OF K-12 TEACHER PREPARATION GRANTS UNLAWFUL
Chicago — Attorney General Kwame Raoul 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, Illinois institutions received letters purporting to terminate grants totaling at least $13.4 million 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, and have been shown to increase teacher retention rates and ensure that educators remain in the profession beyond the crucial first five years.
“Teacher preparation grants are a key tool to address the serious teacher shortage crisis that continues to affect school districts across Illinois,” Raoul said. “The Trump administration’s termination of these grants was shortsighted and unlawful. I am pleased with the court’s ruling, and I remain committed to fighting the administration’s attempts to illegally terminate grants approved by Congress.”
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 funds to states’ public universities and associated nonprofits to support teacher training, placement and retention, and new teacher pipeline development in the states.
Last year, the Department of Education terminated, with immediate effect, grants awarded to K-12 teacher preparation programs in Illinois and nationwide. Hundreds of millions in grants have been terminated. These terminations have been felt across Illinois schools, which rely on these programs to bring teachers into their classrooms.
Raoul and a multisite coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit challenging the terminations. Yesterday, the court granted the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, finding the Trump administration's termination of these grants arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The court order blocks these harmful terminations going forward.
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, canceled courses or classes staffed with teachers less able to teach a subject.
Joining Raoul in filing the lawsuit were the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin.
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