Appeals court rules Trump must reinstate teacher preparation grants in eight states

A federal appeals court Friday refused the Trump administration’s request to lift a judge’s order that officials reinstate teacher preparation grants in eight Democratic-led states that sued.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the ruling on hold after the administration warned it will allow the states to immediately draw down $65 million the government can't recover if the legal challenge ultimately fails.

“The States convincingly explain that this is simply not the case, in part because recipients submit reimbursement requests for expenses already incurred. And, in fact, the Department has not pointed to any evidence of any attempt at any such a withdrawal by any recipient,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge William Kayatta.

The Justice Department previously signaled it was prepared to take the case to the high court.

President Trump has publicly called for the elimination of the Education Department and signed an executive order Thursday aimed at gutting it.

The lawsuit concerns two of the department’s grant programs the Trump administration terminated in February: the Teacher Quality Partnership Program and the Supporting Effective Educator Development Program. Both support teacher development.

Coalitions comprising three private education groups and eight Democratic state attorneys general separately sued over the terminations, claiming they violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Trump administration appealed to the 1st Circuit after U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, an appointee of former President Biden who serves in Boston and oversees the states’ challenge, ordered the administration to reinstate grant funding in the eight states until the next stage of the case.

The 1^st Circuit panel comprised Kayatta, an appointee of former President Obama; U.S. Circuit Judge Gustavo Gelpí, a Biden appointee; and U.S. Circuit Judge Lara Montecalvo, another Biden appointee.

The states had urged the panel to not intervene, noting that such temporary orders are not normally appealable and that Joun has scheduled another hearing for March 28 on whether to grant a longer injunction.

The appeals panel said it agreed to “sidestep” that argument at this stage of the case.

The Justice Department this week suggested they were prepared to seek an emergency intervention from the Supreme Court if the 1st Circuit didn’t intervene, warning that the judge’s ruling was “riddled with factual and legal errors.”

“The district court dismissed the government’s interest on the theory that Congress had appropriated funds for these purposes—but Congress did not specify these specific grants in its appropriation. That is a core matter of executive discretion, and a single district judge has now usurped the power to set education policy priorities,” the Justice Department wrote in court filings.

In the other lawsuit, a judge has separately ordered grant funds owed to the education groups and their members be reinstated. That order also states the administration cannot terminate any more of the grant awards “in a manner this court has determined is likely unlawful.”

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