U.S. Department of Education sued for pulling grants supporting English language learners

The nation’s largest labor union has sued the U.S. Department of Education over its decision last year to cancel 28 grants created to help teachers improve techniques for working with English-language learners.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island by the  National Education Association (NEA) claims the grantees who lost National Professional Development funding were targeted because they were viewed as supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Joining the NEA in the lawsuit were the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island. The lawsuit notes two other lead plaintiffs including the ExcEL Educators Leadership Academy headquartered in Cumberland.

“The Trump administration terminated these grants to punish Americans for saying things it doesn’t want to hear,” Amy Romero, chief legal counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, said in a statement. “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.”

Congress created the grant program in 2001 as part of the No Child Left Behind Act, directing federal education officials to offer funds for training and certification programs for educators serving English learners.

Historically, funds were renewed as long as recipients complied with federal requirements and met performance expectations, according to the lawsuit. By 2025, there were 107 active grants.

But when President Donald Trump’s second term began, his Department of Education terminated $600 million in grants  as part of the administration’s effort to eliminate funding associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The lawsuit claims federal education officials relied on keyword searches of grant applications for terms such as “equity” and “diversity,” rather than the hourslong review process typically used to determine whether a grant should be terminated.

Plaintiffs also suspect the Trump administration may have used artificial intelligence to detect language related to “social justice” to highlight for termination. The lawsuit cites the noncontinuation letter sent to ExcEL Educators Leadership Academy stating it was “not in the best interest of the federal government” to continue funding a course titled “Ensuring Professionalism Through a Multi-Cultural Lens.”

Rationale for why the course conflicted with the government’s best interest was not included in the letter, according to the complaint.

By the time the funding was pulled late last year, ExcEL’s lead administrator, Laureen Avery, managed a network of instructional coaches who worked directly with teachers, providing training and classroom support to hundreds of educators in Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington.

The lawsuit states this coaching network has now been dismantled because of the funding pull, leaving only a limited online course component.

“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,” Avery said in a statement. “The department’s decision disrupts ongoing professional learning and networks, undermines educator preparation efforts, and jeopardizes services that directly benefit students and families.”

Plaintiffs are asking Rhode Island’s federal court 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,” Becky Pringle, president of the NEA, said in a statement. “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.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to request for comment.