ALBANY AND NATIONWIDE — THE FEDERAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS BEING SUED FOR CUTTING GRANT PROGRAMS TO TEACHERS, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Thursday, March 7. She is leading a coalition of seven attorneys general in the lawsuit, which accuses the Education Department of canceling two Congressionally authorized teacher pipeline grant programs.
The Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development grant programs aim to support K-12 teacher development, improve student achievement and create a pipeline to fill positions in hard-to-staff schools. According to the attorney general, both programs have helped hundreds of teachers-in-training to graduate from teaching colleges – including in the SUNY and CUNY systems – to work at schools experiencing teacher shortages.
Moreover, James said, the cuts would mean dozens of educators-in-training, in the middle of the school year, would lose critical stipends, while future candidates would lose the opportunity to enter the teaching profession or improve their qualifications. James and the coalition are seeking a temporary restraining order to urgently restore funding and access to these programs.
In New York, SUNY and CUNY schools were granted more than $16 million in funding to help teachers graduate from these programs.
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