A UNC-Chapel Hill program partnering with a dozen community colleges across the state has lost a federal grant to help train future preschool teachers to better serve students with disabilities. It's part of the U.S. Department of Education's crackdown on grants promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill has been running the SCRIPT-NC program since 2011, contributing to special education training for about 10,000 community college students taking classes to pursue work in the child care industry.
UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and staff at the program provide classroom resources, videos, webinars, and technical assistance to faculty of early childhood education programs at these community colleges:
- Robeson Community College
- Craven Community College
- Durham Technical Community College
- Fayetteville Technical Community College
- Stanly Community College
- South Piedmont Community College
- Sandhills Community College
- Alamance Community College
- Blue Ridge Community College
- Forsyth Technical Community College
- Davidson-Davie Community College
- Vance-Granville Community College
"Federal funding made the operations of the program fiscally possible," a University spokesperson said in a written statement.
UNC-Chapel Hill is planning to appeal the decision. The university declined WUNC's request to interview faculty or staff who worked with SCRIPT-NC.
Last Friday evening, the Department of Education announced the cancellation of 25 competitive grants for special education teacher training programs, including a $1 million five-year grant to SCRIPT-NC. The Frank Porter Graham Institute first announced it had received the grant in fall 2023, applying during the Biden Administration.
Currently in the second year of the grant, the university will lose $200,000 this year, and future funding over the next three years is also in jeopardy.
Each cancellation notice from the Department of Education to grantees cites language in grant applications related to diversity, equity, inclusion or race. Every notice concludes, "the project would be in conflict with agency policy and priorities, and so is not in the best interest of the Federal Government."
In the notice to UNC-Chapel Hill, the Department of Education cites that the university's grant application highlighted how it would work with minority-serving community colleges and already had a diverse program staff. The university's application lists some of the existing program staff members' race and disability status, and says the project would encourage applications from candidates from underrepresented backgrounds, should it need additional staff.
Education Week reports the Biden Administration had encouraged grant applicants to show how their projects promoted diversity in their hiring practices for extra credit in a competitive grant process, and now the Trump administration is using that language in applications as a justification for canceling their funding awards.
The Department of Education said the canceled grants will be repurposed to fund more preparation grants for special education teachers and related service providers.
