ATLANTA — Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island (LCRI) and the National Education Association (NEA), on behalf of its members, filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) unlawful termination of millions of dollars in professional development grants for improving educational instruction for English learners.
In September 2025, the Department of Education abruptly discontinued funding for 28 National Professional Development (NPD) grants. These multiyear grants supported vital, evidence-based programs administered by colleges, universities, and public and private entities. Working in coordination with state and local educational agencies across the country, the programs trained both in-service and pre-service educators serving English learner students.
“The Department of Education’s unprecedented decision to abruptly terminate these active grants mid-stream is a direct attack on vital educator pipelines across the country,” said Michael Tafelski, interim co-chief legal officer, SPLC. “This politically driven overreach fundamentally harms public classrooms and deprives English learner students of the qualified teachers they need to succeed.”
“The Trump administration terminated these grants to punish Americans for saying things it doesn’t want to hear. ED combed through grant applications hunting for words it deemed ‘divisive ideology,’ like ‘diversity’ and ‘equity,’ and then defunded the programs that used them,” said Amy Romero, chief legal counsel, Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island. “That is a textbook First Amendment violation, and it has dismantled teacher certification pipelines in a dozen states and stripped English learner students of the qualified educators the law guarantees them.”
The lawsuit, brought by plaintiffs NEA, Laureen Avery and Tina Cheuk, argues that the Department of Education completely ignored its own performance-based regulations and previously established legal criteria for evaluating multiyear grants. Instead, it justified terminating the funding by selectively citing isolated references to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) language in grant applications that had previously been reviewed, accepted and approved. In several cases, grant applicants included this language to comply with federal law mandating that grant recipients must explicitly outline steps to ensure equitable access to the funded activities.
The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island to declare the Department of Education’s actions unlawful, vacate the 28 grant discontinuation notices, and order new grant-continuation decisions based on actual program performance rather than ideological screening.
“English learners and the educators who dedicate their professional careers to serving them will pay the price for this abrupt, unlawful action by the Trump administration,” said Becky Pringle, president, NEA. “These grants exist for one reason: to make sure every student, regardless of the language spoken at home, has a real opportunity for academic success. When the federal government walks away from that commitment, real consequences follow. Students lose access to trained educators. Classrooms lose the support they need. And the promise of equitable, high-quality instruction becomes a mirage for the children who need it most.”
“For the educators participating in ExcEL, this grant represents far more than a funding stream — it is a pathway to earning the qualifications needed to effectively serve multilingual learners,” said plaintiff Laureen Avery, co-director of the ExcEL Educators Leadership Academy and former director of the Northeast regional office of Center X at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The department’s decision disrupts ongoing professional learning and networks, undermines educator preparation efforts, and jeopardizes services that directly benefit students and families.”
“Our NPD grant was designed to expand the bilingual teacher workforce by creating opportunities for future educators and strengthening partnerships between our university and local school districts across California’s Central Coast,” said plaintiff Tina Cheuk, associate professor, California Polytechnic State University. “The sudden loss of this funding disrupted teacher preparation programs already in progress, cut off support for aspiring bilingual educators, and weakened regional efforts to address longstanding teacher shortages in rural and underserved communities.”
You can view the lawsuit here.
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About the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people. For more information, visit www.splcenter.org.
About the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island
The Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island is a newly formed nonprofit providing pro bono rapid response to federal government overreach affecting individuals and nonprofits across Rhode Island. For more information, visit www.lawyerscommitteeri.org.
About the National Education Association
The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.