A federal judge in Massachusetts has vacated a February 2025 U.S. Department of Education directive that led to the termination of over $600 million in teacher preparation and diversity grants. The September 17, 2026 ruling by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley of the District of Massachusetts granted summary judgment to eight plaintiff states, finding the directive arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law under the Administrative Procedure Act. The decision vacated the directive, but it did not automatically restore the roughly $600 million in terminated grants, leaving the practical outcome uncertain.
The directive, titled "Eliminating Discrimination and Fraud in Department Grant Awards," was issued on February 5, 2025. It instructed department staff to review all new and ongoing grants to ensure they did not fund "discriminatory" practices, including DEI initiatives. The directive led to the termination of 104 of 109 grants awarded under the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) programs. The eight plaintiff states—California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin—had sued the department and its leadership, arguing the terminations were unlawful.
Ruling on the merits
Judge Kelley's order granting the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment came after a series of procedural steps. In March 2025, Judge Myong Joun issued a temporary restraining order that required the department to preserve funding in the plaintiff states. That order was later extended. On November 13, 2025, Judge Kelley partially dismissed the case, finding the court lacked jurisdiction over individual grant terminations, which belonged before the Court of Federal Claims. However, she retained jurisdiction over claims challenging the directive itself.
The court found the directive's definition of DEI unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. It noted that the directive swept in activities like "acknowledging racism" and "anti-racism," which are not inherently discriminatory, and that topics like "social emotional learning" bore no apparent connection to discrimination. The court wrote that it was difficult to see how topics could be both "anti-racist" and within the directive's category of discriminatory activities.
The department argued the case was moot because it had stopped relying on the directive for grant decisions since June 2025. The court rejected that argument, noting the directive remained in effect and the department could resume using it at any time. The court also rejected the department's argument that the plaintiffs had to pursue claims in the Court of Federal Claims, finding that the challenge was to the directive's legality, not to the contracts themselves.
Precedent in parallel cases
The ruling follows a parallel case, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education v. McMahon, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. That case challenged the same February 5, 2025 directive and the termination of TQP and SEED grants. In March 2025, the Maryland court issued a preliminary injunction, relying on the same reasoning as Judge Joun's earlier opinion. Judge Kelley's September 2026 ruling also cited a March 2025 order in a related case, Massachusetts v. National Institutes of Health, which held that challenges to federal grant terminations could proceed under the APA.
The Massachusetts ruling is significant because it is the first permanent vacatur of the directive. However, the court's earlier decision to dismiss individual grant termination claims means that grantees seeking monetary relief must file separate claims in the Court of Federal Claims. That process could take years, and the practical restoration of the $600 million in funding is not guaranteed.
Unverified and tracking
As of the date of this article, the department has not publicly announced whether it will appeal the September 17, 2026 decision or seek a stay pending appeal. The ruling is subject to further review. No official confirmation exists regarding the department's next steps.