New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin is suing the Trump administration once again, this time over the president’s “illegal early termination” of grants funding teacher prep programs.
The Office of the Attorney General said teacher preparation programs at Montclair State University and The College of New Jersey were informed their federal grants were eliminated “without explanation or warning.” The lawsuit, which New Jersey is co-leading with California and Massachusetts, asks a federal court to force the federal government to restore the grants.
“New Jersey prides itself on having one of the premier education systems in the nation, and that is thanks to the quality of teachers we have in our state,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a press release. “The Teacher Quality Partnership grants provided by the U.S. Department of Education help ensure our teachers remain the best-in-the-nation, allowing our future leaders to continue to receive the highest quality education possible.”
The lawsuit says the U.S. Department of Education has eliminated about $600 million in funding, effectively eliminating two congressionally created programs: the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development programs.
The office said those two programs were meant to create a “pipeline” for teachers into hard-to-fill subjects like science and math.
“Defendants’ actions in unlawfully and suddenly ending these Congressionally-created grant programs have resulted in immediate and irreparable harm to the Plaintiff States, their schools and students, and their residents,” the lawsuit states. “These terminations will immediately disrupt teacher workforce pipelines, increase reliance on underqualified educators, and destabilize local school systems.”
The suit was filed in the District Court’s District of Massachusetts.
This isn’t the only lawsuit over the canceled funds. Teacher prep organizations sued the Trump administration earlier this week, according to Education Week.
The attorney general’s office said Montclair State used Teacher Quality Partnership funds to recruit teachers to the Newark Board of Education and Orange Public Schools. The office said TCNJ used funds to train educators for its teacher residency program.
“We need more people to enter the teaching profession, not fewer, and this illegal action by the Trump Administration will harm not only teachers, but students in New Jersey who will be deprived of the education they are entitled to,” Platkin said in a release. “Not only does it defy common sense to end these programs, but the manner in which the Trump Administration did so is also unlawful. The president and his so-called efficiency experts cannot unilaterally take away the Congressional authority that created and funded these programs, and we are taking action to protect teachers, students, and families across our state.”
This is at least the fifth lawsuit Platkin has joined against the Trump administration. Platkin and other Democratic attorneys general have found initial success in their legal challenges against the federal government, winning temporary relief in the cases as litigation progresses.
New Jersey Deputy Attorneys General Jessica Palmer, Amanda Morejón, Lauren Van Driesen, and Elizabeth Walsh are handling the lawsuit.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
January 21, 2025 -
-
May 3, 2018