DEI and teacher education
What is and will happen with funded program for preparing special education teachers?
Johnny’s in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the government…
…Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D.A.
Look out kid
Don’t matter what you did
Walk on your tiptoes
Don’t try “No-Doz”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows
—”Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Bob Dylan
The turmoil in US government activities since January 2025 has has not spared education, as documented right here on Special Education Today in US ED research contracts cancelled (11 February 2025), Cuts to US education research: update (12 February 2025), and Sorta keeping up with the Joneses...and the turmoil in US education (15 February 2025).1 Since February 2025, there have been many other events of note, but I don’t want to document that past here. It may be prologue, but it’s also over and done with. I have in my line of vision right now, events in the present.
In mid-August of 2025 I have heard informally from friends that they are waiting to learn whether their teacher preparation grants are going to be quashed. To be sure, research funding may still be in the crosshairs, but the apple cart that is at risk of upset right now seems to be closely related to funds for projects seeking to enhance number of people in the teacher workforce and the quality of what they know.
It is ironic that in the season of last-minute hiring of teachers, some teacher educators are awaiting word about whether the federal grants that allow them to support their students to attend teacher preparation programs will be quashed?
That teacher educators at US colleges and universities might be uneasy at this time is quite understandable. There’s the chance that some may see programs and activities they have worked years to be able to implement summarily terminated. But, the unease may be deeper than that. The ending of teacher preparation programs may see them having to explain to individuals—often young people with whom they have developed caring relationships—that they must break their promises to these students, that they cannot pay the students’ tuition, fees, and etc.
I find it sad, too, that projects that were responsive to recommendations when the proposals were submitted may be especially vulnerable because of that very responsiveness. Many requests for applications or proposals (“RFAs” or “RFPs”) for teacher education programs offered applicants what amounts to bonus points for recruiting and enrolling prospective teachers from non-majority groups. The current emphasis on reversing initiatives to promote diversity may explicitly cut against that requested emphasis in the proposals. Imagine someone working for the Department of Government Efficiency who has access to the funding agencies’ data base of funded grants running a data-base query
==> Select all records from FundedProjects where Description includes “diversity” or “inclusion”;2
I hope that no one will decide that all those FundedProjects should be cancelled.
Inclusion on the chopping block
Let’s just be a little realistic here. There is a segment of the US political populace that is opposed to efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. Some members of that segment may not realize that those words are entirely appropriate in special education. They are not divisive or disrespectful.
There is, as readers are well aware, lots of discussion about “inclusion” in special education. We, of course, want our kids included. We want them to have access.
We see disability as a natural part of diversity. Indeed, the term is even worn with pride by some members of our diverse community, who would like to have people celebrate neurodiversity.
It’s important to many (maybe “all”) of us that individuals with disabilities are not denied fundamental rights, that they are treated equitably.
Any hope?
I might be grasping at straws here, but there may be a tiny beam of optimism lurking nearby during these times of potential chaos for teacher preparation programs. Some efforts in the spring of 2025 to advance new policies in funding in education were revamped or withdrawn.
In Chalkbeat Erica Meltzer published “Billions in federal education funding unfrozen by Trump administration” 25 July 2025. She explained that when schools learned that billions of dollars3 had been frozen “for review,” schools were after a petition by a group of school superintendents, a letter from Republican members of the US Congress, a suit by state Attorneys General, and other complaints, the funds were released.
In The Atlantic, Toluse Olorunnipa published an account of a freeze and freeing of funds 30 June 2025. He published “Why the White House Backed Down From Its First Big Education Cuts: Defunding popular programs can be as unwelcome in Trump country as it is in coastal cities” 5 August 2025.4
Mayhaps those people who are interested in preservation of special education teacher education programs will need to monitor developments, asking their elected representatives what is happening, expressing support for the regional insti5rutions of higher education that run teacher preparation programs, encouraging their local schools to document problems in hiring adequately prepared new teachers.
I know I shall be asking my friends and colleagues what they are learning. To the extent that I can explain it (without risking anyone’s livelihood!), I’ll be reporting what I learn regarding what is happening.
Now, for those who want to return to the Bob Dylan lyric from the top of this post, here’s an out-take from the movie, “Don’t Look Back.”
Footnotes
Some of these posts may be accessible only to readers with paid subscriptions to Special Education Today.
I know. I know. You full-on MySQL folks can say, “that’s not the proper syntax, John!” I just needed to it to be close enough to communicate to people without your chops. And, at least give me credit for remembering the ending semi-colon, please.
The funds destined for use by K-12 education including $2.2 billion in support of professional development, $1.3 billion in enrichment programs (e.g., STEM), $1.4 billion for special programs before and after school days, and a couple of billion for other programs.
The article may be behind The Atlantic’s paywall.