Dr. Miguel Cardona First Latino Nominated for Secretary of Education

Dr. Miguel Cardona nomination is another sign the Biden administration is committed to having a Cabinet that reflects America.

The nomination of the former school teacher is a drastic 180 from current education secretary Betsy Devos. As the Secretary of Education, Devos has single handedly destroyed an already weekend public education system in favour of providing massive subsidies to private charter schools.

As a former public school teacher and experienced administrator will lead the Biden-Harris administration effort to invest in all students, support educators, and make reopening schools safely a national priority.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden announced that Miguel Cardona, a former public school classroom teacher and the current Connecticut Education Commissioner, will be nominated to serve as the 12th Secretary of Education.

If confirmed, Dr. Cardona will help carry out the president-elect’s ambitious plan to ensure that every student in the nation can get a high-quality education from pre-K to post-high school, regardless of their zip code, parents’ income, race, sexual orientation and gender identity, or disability.

President-elect Joe Biden said, “In Miguel Cardona, America will have an experienced and dedicated public school teacher leading the way at the Department of Education — ensuring that every student is equipped to thrive in the economy of the future, that every educator has the resources they need to do their jobs with dignity and success, and that every school is on track to reopen safely.

He will help us address systemic inequities, tackle the mental health crisis in our education system, give educators a well-deserved raise, ease the burden of education debt, and secure high-quality, universal pre-K for every three- and four year-old in the country. As a lifelong champion of public education, he understands that our children are the kite strings that keep our national ambitions aloft — and that everything that will be possible for our country tomorrow will be thanks to the investments we make and the care that our educators and our schools deliver today.”

As states and school districts struggle to meet students’ needs due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Cardona will make getting students of all ages and in every community back in the classroom safely a national priority — working with Congress and local, state, and tribal leaders to secure the funding and strong public health measures needed so that we can work to safely reopen the majority of our schools within the first 100 days of the new administration.

Having walked the walk as an educator, administrator, and public school parent, Dr. Cardona has a proven track record as an innovative leader who will fight for all students, and for a better, fairer, more successful education system. He will also strive to eliminate long-standing inequities and close racial and socioeconomic opportunity gaps — and expand access to community colleges, training, and public four-year colleges and universities to improve student success and grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class.

Dr. Cardona, the first Latino to serve as Education Commissioner of Connecticut, is a former fourth-grade public school teacher who became the youngest principal in his state. His leadership during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis helped make Connecticut the first state in the nation to ensure that every one of its public school students has a laptop and a high-speed internet connection to engage in remote learning — a key driver in preventing lost school time and closing persistent equity and opportunity gaps.

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