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How Federal Actions Could Impact State Teacher Diversity Efforts—and What States Can Do

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A teacher wearing safety goggles guides a group of students through a science lab experiment with beakers and safety equipment. Text overlay reads: Solving Teacher Shortages: Federal Actions and Teacher Diversity.
This blog reflects policy developments as of July 27, 2026.
 
One of the most important resources for advancing student learning is a stable, well-prepared, and diverse educator workforce. While teacher workforce policy is driven largely by states, federal investments and policies can impact who can afford to enter teaching, how educators repay their student debt, and which preparation programs receive support. The State Teacher Shortages 2026 Update provides the latest look at the severity of teacher shortages across the United States, highlighting where states continue to face vacancies or positions filled by teachers who are not fully certified for their assignments. Two companion blogs examine how recent federal actions may affect state efforts to recruit, prepare, and retain teachers, and what states are well positioned to do in response. This blog addresses how federal changes could impact teacher diversity. How Federal Actions Could Deepen Teacher Shortages—and What States Can Do reviews how changes to federal student aid and loan repayment and forgiveness programs affect states’ efforts to address teacher shortages. Together, the 2026 teacher shortages scan and companion blogs provide context for understanding the educator workforce challenges states are working to address through evidence-based policies and practices.

This blog is a part of the Solving Teacher Shortages blog series, which highlights innovative and evidence-based initiatives and explores policy options and other approaches to building a strong and stable teacher workforce.

States have invested time and resources in building a stronger, more diverse educator workforce, based on clear evidence that students benefit from being taught by teachers from diverse backgrounds. For example, studies have found that Black teachers positively impact Black student achievement and attainment, and that Black and Latino/a teachers improve school climate and outcomes for all students. Yet the most recent national data show that only 20% of teachers are teachers of color, compared to 41% of U.S. workers and 50% of K–12 students.

Federal actions over the past year and a half have impeded state efforts to strengthen and diversify the educator workforce; these actions include restricting student loan access, cutting grants, and targeting the programs states rely on to recruit and retain well-prepared teachers, including teachers of color. Despite these federal actions, states can implement evidence-based strategies to protect and build their educator pipelines and improve student outcomes.

Changes to Federal Student Loan Programs

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), enacted in July 2025, includes changes to the federal student loan landscape that make it harder for teachers to access and pay off federal student loans (see How Federal Actions Could Deepen Teacher Shortages—and What States Can Do). These changes may disproportionately impact Black and Latino/a teacher candidates, who are more likely to take out student loans than White teacher candidates. Black teachers are also more likely to carry balances—and for longer periods—than teachers from other racial or ethnic groups.

The changes may also have a disproportionately negative impact on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) since they serve higher shares of students with financial need, including students who rely on the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (Parent PLUS) loans, which are now subject to new borrowing limits. HBCUs also have smaller endowments than comparable predominantly White institutions of higher education (IHEs), leaving them with fewer resources to offset costs. This may impact state efforts as HBCUs play an outsized role in teacher preparation. Though HBCUs account for just 3% of all colleges and universities, they prepare 50% of Black educators in the United States.

Canceled Federal Grants and Changes to Direct Aid

Funding Cuts and Reprogramming

To date, the current administration has canceled more than $520 million in funding for more than 128 grants supporting teacher preparation and retention. These include the National Professional Development, Teacher Quality Partnership, Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part D: Personnel Development and State Personnel Development grant programs. The administration is also blocking the U.S. Department of Education (ED) from spending congressionally appropriated funding for several of these programs. The canceling and blocking of program funding creates instability and uncertainty for states that have relied on these resources to cultivate a strong and diverse teacher workforce.

The administration is also working to discontinue discretionary grant funding for Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which play a pivotal role in teacher preparation for candidates of color. In September 2025, ED announced its intent to end funding for several MSI grant programs, and in May 2026, ED unveiled plans to shift $350 million of discretionary fiscal 2026 funds for MSIs into the Strengthening Institutions Program.

New Requirements for Receiving Federal Funding

The administration has frequently invoked the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which addressed affirmative action in university admissions, along with alignment with the administration’s policy priorities, as a basis to investigate and/or withhold funding. In response, some states and IHEs have reportedly pulled back diversity-focused programs and practices, even where those programs remain legally permissible. Administration actions include several regulatory proposals tying funding eligibility to compliance with the administration’s interpretation of civil rights law and policy positions:

  • Federal grantee certification requirements: The General Services Administration is proposing new requirements for all federal funding recipients that would require grantees to certify their compliance with the administration’s policy positions, regardless of whether statutory requirements are met.
  • Significant changes to federal grantmaking: The Office of Management and Budget is proposing a rule that would overhaul federal grantmaking and make it easier for political staff at agencies to prevent the award of grants or discontinue grants based on the administration’s policy positions, regardless of whether peer review or statutory requirements are met.
  • Accreditation requirements: ED is proposing regulations that, among other changes, would prohibit accreditors from maintaining requirements that are not aligned with the administration’s policy positions. This is significant because IHEs must be accredited for their students to qualify for Pell Grants, federal student loans, and TEACH Grants.

If finalized, these proposals would require IHEs that rely on federal funds to scale back programs and practices aimed at removing barriers for underrepresented postsecondary students, potentially reducing the pipeline of educators from diverse backgrounds.

Actions by the Department of Justice and ED’s Office for Civil Rights

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed lawsuits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination, against educator diversity programs in Minnesota and Rhode Island. The Rhode Island lawsuit centers on the Educators of Color Loan Forgiveness Program, which offers up to $25,000 in loan forgiveness for new teachers of color who commit to working in Providence public schools. Such programs are a common strategy for recruiting and retaining teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds.

Since January 20, 2025, ED’s Office for Civil Rights has opened more than 280 civil rights investigations into school districts and IHEs. Of the 74 investigations that focus on racial discrimination, the majority are investigating allegations of reverse discrimination.

Recommended State Actions

Despite these actions, states can take steps to strengthen and diversify their educator workforce and improve outcomes for all students.

Increase Financial Support for Teacher Preparation

High-quality preparation programs strengthen teacher retention and effectiveness, including for educators of color. States can provide financial support to make these programs more accessible by providing:

  • Service scholarships: California’s Golden State Teacher Grant awards up to $20,000 over 2 years for tuition costs for prospective teachers. The grant has supported more than 28,000 educators from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
  • Loan forgiveness: Delaware, Illinois, and North Carolina offer programs to pay off debt accrued while pursuing a teaching degree, with a requirement to teach in-state after graduation.
  • Paid residencies, Grow Your Own, and apprenticeship programs: More than a dozen states have launched programs in which candidates learn alongside a mentor teacher while completing integrated coursework. These programs can also improve access for educators of color and provide affordable certification pathways for educators to teach in their communities.
  • Student teaching stipends: Pennsylvania’s Student Teacher Support Program provides $10,000 stipends to support student teachers during their clinical practice in exchange for a commitment to teach for a minimum number of years. Minnesota provides up to $7,500 per semester for student teachers who intend to teach in a license-shortage area or a rural district, as well as teachers who are from underrepresented backgrounds.

Strengthen Mentoring and Induction Programs

At least 32 states require induction and mentoring for new teachers. These programs, which improve retention and effectiveness, are often less accessible to teachers of color. Texas, for example, offers districts $3,000 per beginning teacher to implement mentoring and induction support through the HB 2 (PREP) program. Research on the Texas teacher workforce has linked mentorship programs to increased retention rates.

Strengthen State Teacher Workforce Data

Beyond the annual teacher shortage data states are federally required to report to ED, states can include equity indicators in their public state-level reports—disaggregating teacher demographics to better understand their workforce, including trends and the impact of state investments. State-level reporting is increasingly important as federal data and research capacity become less certain.

Increase Support for HBCUs and MSIs

HBCUs and MSIs play a critical role in preparing teachers of color and have been disproportionately affected by federal actions. Some states are trying to mitigate the impacts. California has proposed increasing funding flexibility for community college MSIs to recover from federal cuts to MSI funding and the TRIO program. California’s 2025–26 budget also included a one-time $60 million block grant for community colleges—over 90% of which are MSIs—to offset lost federal funding. The final 2026–27 state budget agreement increased this block grant amount to $147.2 million. In 2021, Maryland allocated $577 million to its public HBCUs over 4 years following a legal battle over systemic underfunding.

Despite federal funding cuts and policy shifts, states that continue to invest in evidence-based approaches to teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention will be better positioned to build a well-prepared and diverse educator workforce and ensure strong outcomes for all students.