In cuts to DEI-related programs announced recently, the Trump administration canceled a five-year, ~$9 million federal grant for a teacher residency program at Virginia Commonwealth University, which partners with CodeRVA Regional High School as one of Governor Youngkin’s signature lab schools called VCU X CodeRVA.
VCU’s RTR Teacher Residency Program is a proven undergraduate and graduate teacher residency program that places aspiring teachers with highly qualified mentor teachers while they earn an education degree from VCU. RTR is the largest and longest-standing teacher residency program in Virginia and has prepared over 300 teachers to work in high-needs schools. No explanation was provided in the letter canceling the grant for how this program violated the administration’s new anti-DEI policies.
Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez said that the cut to the VCU program “does not affect the operation of the VCU x CodeRVA lab school, which is fully funded…”
Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), who has appointed a bipartisan committee of legislators to study the impact of Trump’s cuts on the state, disputes the idea that the school remains fully funded.
Some of the funding, he said, is federal money that passes through the state’s hands. When Trump’s efficiency czar Elon Musk and his staff “start cutting these funds and slicing these funds indiscriminately, this is what’s going to happen,” Scott said. “The governor last year was touting this as his signature approach to lab schools. And now, a year later, because of the Trump-Musk administration, he is now running away from his signature piece. And VCU is left holding the bag and struggling.”
Take Action
- Ask Governor Youngkin if Virginia will appeal the cut grant or replace this lost funding in the Virginia budget.
