Joe Biden to educators: “You are the most important profession in the United States.”
By Amanda Menas / photo: Joe Biden at NEA’s Strong Public Schools Presidential Forum in Houston on July 5, 2019.
“Education should be put more in the hands of educators. You should have more input on what you teach, how you teach it, when you teach it,” Joe Biden told more than 8,000 educators at the National Education Association’s virtual Representative Assembly on Friday. Biden joined the livestream not only to address the delegates, but to listen to educators’ concerns and answer their questions about what he will do as president to strengthen public education.
After enduring four years of a presidential administration that has turned its back on students, stripped funding from public schools, and left schools adrift with inadequate resources and guidance during a global pandemic, Biden has promised that if he is elected, educators will have not one, but two friends in the White House. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is a long-time educator and NEA member.
NEA President Lily Eskelsen García rallied educators as she introduced Biden to the delegates, “There is never going to be anything as important as you do maybe in your entire life than what you’re going to do this year to protect democracy and to protect our country. We have got to stop the DeVos-Trump agenda.”
Throughout his candidacy, Biden has made it a priority to speak to educators and listen to their top concerns. He has promised that his administration will invest in public schools and listen to educators before setting education policy. He has promised to fire Betsy DeVos and replace her with an education secretary who has actually been an educator. He told the RA delegates specifically, “this is going to be a teacher-oriented Department of Education, and it’s not going to come from the top down. It will come from the teachers up.”
Biden stated that under Donald Trump’s failed leadership during the pandemic, more than CONTINUE READING: Joe Biden to educators: “You are the most important profession in the United States.” - Education Votes
