Two federal grants related to teacher preparation are being reinstated to the University of St. Thomas after the Trump administration cut the St. Paul school’s funding in February for supposedly being related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
After two lawsuits were filed challenging the cuts, a U.S. District Court order will restore funding for both the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) and Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grants, designed to strengthen teacher pipelines, a St. Thomas spokesperson said Wednesday.
The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the National Center for Teacher Residencies, organizations to which St. Thomas belongs, filed the lawsuits to reinstate the grants. Amy Smith, the dean of St. Thomas’ School of Education, had filed an affidavit in the case, the spokesperson said.
University officials said in a statement that they were “encouraged” by the development.
“In Minnesota, these grants come at a critical time as institutions such as St. Thomas work to address the shortage of teachers in the state’s school districts,” the statement said. “We will continue working to help St. Thomas students who were impacted by February’s grant terminations continue their journeys to becoming licensed teachers and benefit students from across Minnesota.”
The first grant, $6.8 million awarded to the university’s School of Education in 2023, provided three years of funding for graduate students pursuing teaching careers, giving them $10,000 scholarships. It also gave stipends to undergraduates while they were student teaching in special education and elementary education. Seven other institutions or programs across the country received the grant for different amounts.
The second grant St. Thomas lost was a $2.8 million grant that the university was in its fifth and final year of administering; about 20 graduate students had received it.
“Our reaction was deep disappointment because in the end this isn’t about funding for St. Thomas, it’s about funding for 185 men and women who are committed to becoming teachers in some of our most high need areas,” University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer said in February. “We were surprised that this was canceled. We don’t view it as a DEI initiative – we view it as a straight pipeline development initiative."
