In a letter sent late last week, over 100 national and state education organizations urged Congress to reinstate federal grants that were recently canceled, threatening efforts to address teacher shortages in US schools. The groups pushed back against the US Department of Education’s February 17 decision to cut funding for key teacher preparation programs, including the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED), Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP), and Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program grants.
The funding cuts have already disrupted the educator pipeline for the next school year, as teacher candidates have lost scholarships and paid internships just months before completing their licensure requirements, according to a report by education news portal k12dive.com. The cuts specifically targeted innovative preparation programs addressing shortages in special education, science, math, career and technical education, early childhood education, and English learners.
The cuts are part of broader cost-saving measures implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) across federal agencies. The education groups’ letter was signed by major organizations including AASA, The School Superintendents Association, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, the American Federation of Teachers, and various teacher education organizations from multiple states.
“The loss of these grants impacts the effectiveness of our teaching workforce. Many of the programs were designed to attract people from fields outside of education who could bring their expertise into the classroom. Now, those individuals may no longer have access to the support and resources they need to transition into teaching, depriving students of valuable real-world knowledge and experience,” the letter stated according to the k12dive.com report.
The Education Department confirmed that the TQP and SEED awards were among the canceled grants. Department spokesperson Savannah Newhouse responded to the groups’ letter, stating: “America’s students are falling dangerously behind in math and reading. Teacher prep programs should be prioritizing training that prepares youth with the fundamentals they need to succeed for the future, not wasting valuable training resources on divisive ideologies.”
The impact of these cuts is already evident across several states. In Louisiana, a $23 million investment for high-quality teacher pipeline programs in high-need schools was canceled, along with two TQP grants focused on rural schools and apprenticeship-based certification. A SEED grant that would have provided over 550 teachers to New Orleans schools by 2025 was also terminated.
Michigan lost TQP grants addressing teacher shortages and literacy instruction. Ohio saw the cancellation of a TQP grant that aimed to extend partnerships between school districts and educator preparation programs for high-impact tutoring through school-based mentoring models.
In Tennessee, the cancellation of SEED grants halted initiatives for boosting instructional leadership in STEM, literacy, and computational thinking in rural areas. This affected 35 school leaders and 125 teachers who lost planned professional development and training, impacting approximately 3,200 students in rural districts.
The cuts come at a time when districts nationwide have been struggling with teacher shortages. During the 2024-25 school year, districts hired 400,000 underqualified educators and still faced at least 49,000 vacancies, according to research from the University of Missouri, University of Pittsburgh, and other institutions.
The TQP and SEED grants were designed to address these shortages through innovative approaches to teacher preparation and professional development. The cancellation of these programs has created immediate challenges for schools and districts working to maintain qualified teaching staff for the upcoming academic year.
