Former public school teacher is Biden’s pick
Presidentelect Joe Biden has chosen Miguel Cardona, the education commissioner for Connecticut and a former public school teacher, to be education secretary.
Cardona was appointed to the top education post in Connecticut just months before the COVID19
pandemic broke out in March. When schools moved to remote learning, he hurried to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the state. Since then, however, he has pressed schools to reopen, saying it’s harmful to keep students at home.
If confirmed, his first task will be to expand that effort across the nation. Biden has pledged to have a majority of U. S. schools reopened by the end of his first 100 days in office. Biden is promising new federal guidelines on school opening decisions, and a “largescale” Education Department effort to identify and share the best ways to teach during a pandemic.
The pick drew praise from public school advocates and teachers unions. Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers president, called Cardona a “trusted partner” who will reverse four years of “disaster” under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“His deep respect for educators and their unions will travel with him to Washington — and that commitment to collaboration is crucial to providing the resources and social and emotional supports to safely reopen schools,” he said.
Cardona, 45, was raised in a housing project in Meriden, Conn., and went through the city’s public schools before returning to the district in 1998 to work as a fourthgrade teacher. At age 28 he had become the youngest principal in the state before working his way up to assistant superintendent of the district.
As an educator, he has devoted his work to improving education for Englishlanguage learners and closing achievement gaps between students of color and their white classmates.
Beyond the pandemic, Biden’s education secretary will also be tasked with reversing an array of policies established by DeVos. Throughout his campaign, Biden depicted DeVos as an enemy of public schools and vowed to install an education chief with experience working in public schools.