District Court judge issues temporary restraining order

MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul today secured a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts temporarily blocking the Trump Administration’s unlawful termination of K-12 teacher preparation pipeline grants while the states seek a preliminary injunction. Kaul joined a coalition of eight attorneys general in filing a lawsuit challenging the termination of this funding last week.

“Kids in Wisconsin shouldn’t be denied a quality education because of a lack of teachers,” said AG Kaul. “This is an encouraging early ruling in this case that’s seeking to prevent the Trump administration from gutting grants that are aimed at boosting our teacher workforce and helping kids get a quality education.”

BACKGROUND

In 2024, more than 400,000 teaching positions in the U.S. — representing about one in eight of all teaching positions nationwide — were vacant or filled by uncertified teachers. When schools are unable to find qualified teachers, students suffer. Teacher shortages can result in larger class sizes, cancelled courses, or classes staffed with teachers less able to teach a subject.

To address the nationwide teacher shortage, especially for hard-to-fill subject areas, like math, science, and special education, and in hard-to-staff school districts in rural and urban areas, Congress established and allocated funding pursuant to the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development grant programs to train teachers, create a new teacher pipeline, and improve teacher quality. The U.S. Department of Education subsequently awarded and obligated funds to states’ public universities and associated nonprofits grants under these programs to do exactly what Congress mandated — provide teacher training, placement, and retention, and new teacher pipeline development in the states.

Beginning on February 7, 2025, the Department of Education terminated, with immediate effect, grants awarded to K-12 teacher preparation programs in Wisconsin and nationwide. Hundreds of millions in grants have been terminated.

In Wisconsin alone, the Department provided notice of termination of more than $3 million in funding. These terminations would be felt immediately in Wisconsin schools who rely on these programs to bring teachers into their classrooms. The terminations would also cause layoffs or reductions in hours for university staff, and result in reduced or eliminated support and funding for new and aspiring teachers.

In Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin-Madison received a five-year TQP grant for approximately $3.3 million in 2023 to create a teacher residency program that was projected to train 36 highly qualified special education teachers in the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Milwaukee Public Schools, the largest public school district in Wisconsin, suffers from a critical shortage of qualified special education teachers, with approximately 100 positions currently vacant. The program was projected to train special education teachers chosen through a rigorous recruitment and selection process, pairing these teachers with experienced mentors and providing them with extensive graduate coursework in special education along with a year of field experience.

Each of these teachers would then have been committed to work in Milwaukee Public Schools for at least three years. At the time of the grant’s termination, the first cohort of 10 individuals was serving as teacher residents in Milwaukee Public Schools and taking graduate coursework. Eight more individuals had already been accepted into the second cohort, with eight more applications having been submitted or in progress.