Supreme Court rules feds can freeze training grant to Towson University, other colleges
By Sarah Sternhagen, Editor-in-Chief
The U.S. Supreme Court this month allowed the Trump administration to maintain its freeze on a federal teacher training grant, which supports programs at Towson University.
The high court’s 5-4 decision empowers the White House to continue suspending more than $600 million in grants, which Trump administration officials have claimed help train teachers in “divisive ideologies.” The grants promote “inappropriate and unnecessary topics,” including diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the Education Department said when it cut off funding in February.
The cuts follow a broader push by the Trump administration to eliminate college DEI efforts. The Education Department issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” in February that said a 2023 Supreme Court decision striking down race-conscious admissions applied to all diversity-related programs. Legal experts have widely claimed this policy interpretation overreaches legal bounds.
The Education Department’s decision to suspend funding put Towson’s $5 million training grant on the chopping block. The university received the grant last year. It helps fund training programs, with the goal being to place K-6 teachers in Montgomery and Baltimore county schools.
Eight states, including Maryland, sued over the Education Department’s withdrawal of the grants in March. That month, a federal judge in Massachusetts ordered the Trump administration to, while the case is ongoing, temporarily restore grant funding for those states, which amounted to $65 million. The Supreme Court’s decision paused the Massachusetts judge’s order.
The Supreme Court’s majority said in its ruling that the eight states had not adequately refuted the federal government’s claim that it was “unlikely to recover the grant funds once they are disbursed.” It also agreed with the Trump administration’s argument that the states “would not suffer irreparable harm” while the grant funding was in limbo.
Colleges have the “financial wherewithal to keep their programs running,” the Supreme Court said in court filings.
Towson officials declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling.