As reported by K-12 Dive, The Trump administration’s sudden cancellation of over 100 federal teacher training grants last year caused at least 127 teacher candidates to drop out of their programs and another 259 accepted candidates to not enroll after all. In fact, survey results released on October 8, 2026, based on 36 grantees across 22 states, further show that before being canceled, the grants were being used to help educate future teachers to work in Title I schools or in high-need areas, such as STEM, early childhood education and special education. Research results also indicate the cuts have harmed efforts to address hard-to-staff teaching positions. Survey respondents said their grants were being used to train teacher candidates in 210 school districts before they were canceled. The 36 surveyed grantees had been awarded almost $263 million for the programs, and about half of that was canceled by the Trump administration.
The survey focused on the effects seen from the cancellation of the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) programs. The report cited a March 12, 2026 court filing in which the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) confirmed it had canceled 104 of the 109 active TQP and SEED grants because the funds were being used to train teachers using “divisive ideologies.”
For more from K-12 Dive, click here.