California Among Several States Suing Over Federal Cuts in Teacher Grants

California’s money would have prepared teachers for positions in rural and urban schools. Without the funds, teacher shortages will grow, state AG Bonta said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Leading a multistate coalition, California filed a new lawsuit on March 6 against the Trump administration over the cancellation of millions of dollars in teacher preparation grants.

“When it comes to our children and teachers ... they’re withholding this funding,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters on March 6. “That’s catastrophic. This money should flow to avoid the catastrophe.”

In the March 6 action, California joined Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin in the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The lawsuit alleged that the Department of Education violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it arbitrarily terminated about $600 million in grants across the country that Congress had authorized in 2024.

The grants address nationwide teacher shortages and improve teacher quality by educating, placing, and supporting new teachers in hard-to-staff schools, especially in rural and underserved communities, according to the lawsuit.

Bonta said in a statement that cancellation of the funding, $148 million of which was meant for California, would eliminate two state programs: the Teacher Quality Partnership Program and the Supporting Effective Educator Development Program.

The programs are designed to create a pipeline for teachers serving rural and urban communities and to fill math, science, bilingual, and special education positions, according to Bonta.

“We’re asking the court to immediately halt these cuts and allow funding to continue to flow into the state,” he said.

He said withholding the funds would contribute to a growing teacher shortage and could mean larger class sizes, canceled courses, and instructors teaching subjects that are not their specialty.

Since he took office on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has pursued federal funding reductions in several areas in an effort to identify wasteful spending, shrink the workforce, and boost efficiency in the federal government.

A request sent to the White House for more information on the education funding cut was not returned by publication time.

President Donald Trump speaks in the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 2025. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The state received a “boilerplate” letter about the reductions from the federal government mentioning waste, fraud, and abuse, according to Bonta.

Congress had approved the funds in 2024 to address teacher shortages in K–12 classrooms and development needs, according to the lawsuit.

The federal cuts started on Feb. 7 and included slashing a new five-year, $7.5 million grant to train and develop community-centered special education, STEM, and bilingual teachers in Los Angeles.

The program’s goal was to train and certify about 276 teachers and educators for high-need urban schools in the Los Angeles and Pasadena school districts.

The cuts also included terminating a new $2.4 million, five-year grant program run by the California State University–Chico, to address chronic teacher shortages in rural areas.

Another program on the chopping block is an $8.5 million grant to support a year-long teacher residency that mentors future teachers.

The states are asking the judge to put a hold on the funding termination.

Mildred García, California State University chancellor, said the programs have proved to be “extraordinarily successful” at placing well-qualified and dedicated educators in some of the state’s highest-need districts.

“The elimination of funding to the Teacher Quality Partnership grants awarded to universities in the California State University system will cause widespread and irreparable harm to the students and school districts we are so honored to serve through these grants,” García said during a press conference on March 6.

California State University–Fullerton, in Fullerton, Calif., on March 8, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The legal action is one of more than 100 federal lawsuits filed against the Trump administration since Jan. 20, according to a litigation tracker published by the online analytical forum Just Security.

California officials set aside $25 million in early February so that Bonta’s office could take legal action if federal aid was withheld.

In a separate lawsuit filed by Bonta, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island issued a decision to prevent the Trump administration from freezing federal funds.

Bonta joined 22 other attorneys general in the lawsuit, filed on Jan. 28, asking the court to prevent Trump from freezing up to $3 trillion in federal assistance funding.

As part of his effort to downsize the federal government, Trump has vowed to shut down the Department of Education, saying the states should decide what needs to be done for their students.

His administration in early February canceled contracts worth more than $1 billion under the Education Department.

The president also signed an executive order in late January to withdraw federal funding from school districts maintaining curricula or programs based on ideologies such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, which he considers discriminatory.