Today, State Senator Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, Senate Chair of the Special Education Committee and Constitutional Law professor, issued a statement in response to President Trump’s Department of Education abruptly revoking a $3.38 million Teacher Quality Partnership Program Grant to address critical teacher shortages in Bridgeport.
“The Special Education Committee just completed a listening tour across the state and the resounding consensus was that we have a critical teacher shortage. This federal grant was providing funding to create a pipeline for teachers in high need areas, like Bridgeport. This will impact students, teachers, parents and local municipalities who are already struggling to find teachers. Moreover, the freezing of federal funds that have already been allocated by Congress is grossly unconstitutional, in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, and creates chaos and uncertainty among institutions and organizations relying on these funds, as well as the communities they serve.”
The grant was issued to Sacred Heart University who worked in partnership with Bridgeport and Stamford Public Schools to create a teacher pipeline. The program offers a year-long, co-teaching residency and a significantly subsidized tuition benefit. These funds would have helped recruit, train and retain 80 educators to serve Connecticut’s highest-needs school, with a particular focus on shortage areas like special education and STEM.
The notification of immediate grant termination cited, “The Acting Secretary of Education has determined that, per the Department’s obligations to the constitutional and statutory law of the United States, this priority includes ensuring that the Department’s grants do not support programs or organizations that promote or take part in diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives or any other initiatives that unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or another protected characteristic.”
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