BOSTON: The US Department of Education must continue funding grants supporting teacher preparation programmes in eight Democratic-led states after a federal appeals court on Friday declined to allow President Donald Trump’s administration to cancel them.

The Boston-based Circuit Court of Appeals declined to pause a lower-court judge’s order directing the Education Department to restore grants it terminated as part of the administration’s efforts to nix diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Judge William Kayatta said the department had failed to provide any “proper explanation” for why it was cancelling grants awarded under programmes authorised by Congress to help support institutions that recruit and train teachers for traditionally under-served local educational agencies.

He said halting grants awarded to universities and other entities in the eight states will result in staff layoffs and programme disruptions that “will weaken the very teacher pipelines in their jurisdictions that Congress intended to strengthen”.

Kayatta wrote the decision on behalf of a panel of three judges, all of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents.

The decision came a day after the Republican president signed an executive order aiming to essentially dismantle the Education Department, which oversees $1.6 trillion in college loans, enforces civil rights laws in schools and provides federal funding for needy districts.

The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take steps to facilitate the closure of the department to the maximum extent permitted by law. A full shuttering would require an act of Congress, and Trump lacks the votes for that.

The K-12 teacher preparation grants at issue in Friday’s ruling were among more than $600 million worth awarded to institutions and non-profits the department cancelled last month because they were used to train teachers and education agencies on “divisive ideologies”. It said those programmes used training materials that discussed topics including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), social justice activism, “critical race theory” and “anti-racism”.

States led by California, Massachusetts and New Jersey argued the department lacked authority to nix the grants, which they said would exacerbate a teacher shortage by effectively eliminating the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development grant programmes.

Judge Myong Joun, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden in Boston, issued a temporary restraining order on March 10 requiring the grants to be reinstated, prompting the Trump administration to run to the Boston court to avoid paying out millions of dollars.

While that appeal was pending, another judge in Maryland sided this week with groups that represent teacher-preparation programmes and issued a separate injunction ordering the department to reinstate the grants.

The states that pursued Friday’s case are among a broader group of 20 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia pursuing a separate case seeking to block the Trump administration from dismantling the education department and firing of nearly half of its staff, as it announced it would do.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2025