Over 100 education organizations have sent a letter to Congress urging the urging lawmakers to order the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to reinstate canceled federal grants that sought to address the shortage of qualified educators in K-12 schools,. The letter is in response to a $600 million cut to “divisive” teacher training grants made on Feb. 17 by the USDE impacting grants such as the Supporting Effective Educator Development, Teacher Quality Partnership. and the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program. In addition, the canceled funding for educator preparation training programs, which include teacher apprenticeships and grow-your-own initiatives, has already disrupted the educator pipeline to fill vacancies next school year as teacher candidates have lost scholarships and paid internships just months before they were to earn their full licensure, according to the letter.
To date, school districts have hired hundreds of thousands of uncertified teachers in recent years to help plug holes left by teacher shortages, and the programs affected buy funding cuts were instituted to help address that issue.
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