MADISON – Wisconsin has joined a multistate lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s discontinuation of grant funding for special education services.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice says the lawsuit involves the State Personnel Development Grant program, known as SPDG. DOJ says the competitive grants support professional development for special education staff and services for children with disabilities. Wisconsin filed the lawsuit with California and Rhode Island.
Attorney General Josh Kaul says Wisconsin students with disabilities and their families “deserve better than this from our federal government.” Kaul says funding that supports special education should not be discontinued because of a change in presidential administrations.
According to DOJ, Wisconsin’s SPDG grant funded a statewide program administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. The program provided training and support for special education teachers in participating school districts. DOJ says after the funding was discontinued, DPI and its subgrantees did not have enough money to sustain the program, which closed September 30th, 2025.
The department says the discontinued Wisconsin program focused in part on special educator retention. DOJ says 43.2 percent of Wisconsin special education teachers remain in the classroom by their eighth year, compared with a statewide teacher retention rate of 52.6 percent over the same span. The program also connected families with schools through family engagement initiatives.
The lawsuit argues the Education Department’s discontinuation of funding violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court has not ruled on those claims.
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It names the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Linda McMahon as defendants.
The U.S. Department of Education’s website says the SPDG program is a discretionary grant through the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, meant to help state education agencies improve personnel preparation and professional development for services that support children with disabilities.
The Education Department also says grant continuation depends on a determination that continuing the project is in the best interest of the federal government. The department says it has reviewed grants it says reflect prior administration priorities and conflict with current administration policy preferences.
K-12 Dive reported that an Education Department spokesperson said the Trump administration has made historic investments to support students with disabilities and remains committed to ensuring students receive legally required special education services.
