American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, considered a leading candidate to become Secretary of Education when President-elect Joe Biden takes office next Jan. 20, said Nov. 11 that she looked forward to working with the administration in her current job—but stopped short of a Shermanesque declaration that she would turn down the cabinet post if it were offered.
"I'm honored by the mention, and I'm very, very happy to be working with the Biden Administration as president of the AFT," she said in a phone interview. "I love my job and I'm happy that we'll be dealing with an administration that's pro-worker, pro-family, pro-opportunity, pro-equality, pro-justice and pro-education."
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The New York Times had identified Ms. Weingarten and Lily Eskelsen Garcia, who earlier this year stepped down as president of the National Education Association, as the two leading contenders to replace Trump Administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose policies have been harshly criticized by both women. The NEA is the nation's largest union of educators, with 2.29-million members, and the AFT represents 1.7 million.
"There's lots of things to do, with the needed cleaning-up of the mess DeVos created on school loans, dealing with COVID, a real review of what accountability should look like that's about more than testing, and securing resources for social and emotional learning," Ms. Weingarten said.
Referring to Jill Biden's pledge that she will continue to teach after moving into the White House, the CONTINUE READING: AFT's Weingarten Not Ruling Out Becoming Education Secretary | News of the Week | thechiefleader.com