The Trump administration has escalated its legal battle over education funding cuts, taking its case to the Supreme Court.
The administration is seeking to overturn a lower court’s block on cuts to teacher training programs, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
A Boston federal judge initially halted the cuts, citing their detrimental impact on training programs designed to address the national teacher shortage.
The administration’s subsequent appeal to the Boston federal appeals court was also rejected.
The legal challenge was initiated by eight Democratic-led states, who argue that the cuts are politically motivated and aim to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
The states point to President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education and the administration’s subsequent overhaul of department initiatives.
Dozens of contracts have been terminated, labeled by the administration as “woke” and wasteful.
The Justice Department has filed three other emergency appeals of court rulings that blocked administration actions.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on an appeal asking to narrow court orders that have imposed a nationwide hold on Trump’s desire to restrict birthright citizenship. An appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers is also pending.
The justices previously rejected a bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid and did not immediately allow Trump’s firing to proceed of the head of a federal watchdog agency. A later ruling from a lower court, though, did force Office of Special Counsel head Hampton Dellinger from his job.
The two education programs at issue – the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development – provide more than $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education, the states have argued.
They said data has shown the programs had led to increased teacher retention rates and ensured that educators remain in the profession beyond five years.
The administration halted the programs without notice in February.
Joun, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, found that the cancellations probably violated a federal law that requires a clear explanation for such cost-cutting moves.
