Bonta leads suit over education grants for special needs training

The fight over a canceled federal grant is really about whether schools can keep enough trained special-education teachers, therapists and support staff in the pipeline. California says the money helped prepare the people who serve more than 880,000 students in the state eligible for special education services, and now it is asking a federal judge to stop Washington from unwinding an award already made.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta led the multistate lawsuit Tuesday, challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to discontinue awards under the State Personnel Development Grant program. The state says its Department of Education received a five-year grant in 2022, then lost it in September 2025 after the federal agency cited concerns about equity-related initiatives that California called baseless. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Northern California and asks the court to rule that the cancellation was unlawful.

At stake is a program that the Education Department says helps state educational agencies improve personnel preparation and professional development in early intervention, educational and transition services for children with disabilities. Authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and dating to 2004, the State Personnel Development Grant program has long been described by California as a routine, performance-based funding stream. The state’s complaint casts the cancellation as more than a budget dispute, arguing it could weaken teacher training, delay interventions and make it harder for school systems to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

The case lands in the middle of a persistent staffing shortage. A 2020 California research brief said nearly 8 in 10 California schools were trying to hire special education teachers, and 87% of principals at those schools said hiring was a challenge. Nationally, the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics reported that 43% of public schools had vacant special education teaching positions in 2021-22, and 40% of public schools trying to fill special education openings in 2020-21 said they had difficulty doing so.

California has already poured state money into the problem, including a 2021 appropriation of $350 million over five years for competitive grants to develop special education teacher residency programs, plus another $100 million for services for students with low-incidence disabilities. Even so, federal funding remains central: a June 2024 Government Accountability Office report said about 7.3 million children ages 3 through 21 received special education and related services under IDEA in 2021-22. The lawsuit now tests how much discretion Washington has to cancel competitive grants after promising the money, and whether that power can reshape staffing for students with disabilities nationwide.