Biden proposes education secretary
WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden is poised to nominate Miguel Cardona, the education commissioner of Connecticut, as secretary of the Department of Education, the Associated Press reported, choosing a major proponent of reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic.
If confirmed by the Senate, Cardona, 45, would lead Biden’s push to reopen all public schools in the first 100 days of his administration. Biden’s pick would add another Latino to his increasingly diverse Cabinet.
Cardona served as Connecticut’s education chief for 16 months after working as a public school educator for two decades in Meriden, Connecticut, which has a school system of just 7,459 students.
On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to choose a teacher to lead the nation’s schools.
Leslie Fenwick, dean emeritus and professor at Howard University, was another top contender for the position.
The Biden transition team has not announced the selection, nor would they confirm Cardona is the choice. Cardona did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Cardona is not directly aligned with teachers unions or advocates of school choice in the nation’s education policy wars. Both camps praised the potential selection.
He would take over the department as schools and colleges reel from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardona argued that little evidence exists of COVID-19 transmission within schools, according to the Hartford Courant, and stressed the social, emotional and educational benefits of in-person classes over virtual learning.
“In-person education is too important for our children to disrupt their education further,” Cardona wrote to Connecticut school superintendents in November, “unless and until local conditions specifically dictate the need to do so.”
In line with Biden’s position on pandemic schooling, Cardona encouraged school districts in his state to remain open by providing them with safety guidelines. New Haven, Connecticut’s largest school district, and Danbury are the state’s only systems that have maintained all virtual learning the entire year. Several school districts that were in-person switched to virtual classrooms last month.
Nationally, school systems have lacked clear federal guidance for how and when to reopen classrooms, and how and when to take learning remote. Students are falling behind academically without in-person education. Payments and interest on the nation’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio are on hold until a few days after Biden becomes president, awaiting a policy decision from the new education secretary as the economic fallout of the pandemic continues.
Cardona served as assistant superintendent in Meriden Public Schools from 2013 until Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, appointed him education commissioner in August 2019. Cardona worked as a principal for 10 years, earning recognition as Connecticut’s Principal of the Year in 2012. He also worked as an elementary school teacher.