Tuesday,
February 18, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 25
At last week’s confirmation hearing, education secretary nominee Linda McMahon called teaching “one of the most noble professions that we have in our country” and expressed support for workforce development programs.
But now the department she wants to lead has abruptly canceled more than $600 million in grants designed to prepare teachers, especially in high-need schools.
The cancellations include a $3.38 million grant to Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, where McMahon serves on the Board of Trustees. The funds supported a program focused on recruiting special education teachers and strengthening instruction in STEM subjects.
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The university was among 20 recent recipients of a Teacher Quality Partnership grant, a program that aimed to attract and prepare a more diverse educator workforce. In response to Biden administration priorities, several of the grantees targeted the funds — $70 million in 2024 — toward recruiting and training future educators from underrepresented communities. But now those goals put organizations at odds with the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“Without warning all funds were swept, thus all employees on the grant were terminated without cause or warning,” Erin Ramirez, an associate professor at California State University Monterey Bay, said in an email.
Ramirez said her university’s $5.7 million grant was “illegally terminated.” The funds were supporting an alternative teacher preparation program that aimed to draw 1,350 residents of the central California region into teaching in their local school districts. The revocation of funds, including $3.76 million in scholarships, will result in larger class sizes, higher teacher turnover and “exacerbates existing workforce shortages and economic instability,” according to a summary Ramirez provided.
