1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing to urge you to pressure the Trump Department of Education immediately and restore the 28 National Professional Development grants it terminated last year. These grants funded evidence-based teacher training programs for educators serving English learner students, and cutting them has disrupted certification pipelines in a dozen states, gutted support for aspiring bilingual educators, and deepened teacher shortages in rural and underserved communities across the country. The Department didn't cancel these grants because the programs failed. It canceled them because grant applications contained words like "diversity" and "equity" — language that applicants included specifically to comply with federal law requiring equitable access to funded activities. That's not a policy rationale. That's ideological retaliation, and it's exactly what the SPLC, the Lawyers' Committee for Rhode Island, and the NEA are arguing in federal court right now. The lawsuit asks the court to vacate all 28 termination notices and require performance-based evaluations instead of ideological screening. Congress has a role here too. Press Education Secretary and her cronies in the department to reverse these terminations and make clear that grant funding cannot be stripped based on constitutionally protected language. English learner students and the teachers who serve them deserve better programs not extremist nonsense from idiots like McMahon. Thank you.