SALT LAKE CITY — Former Utahn Lily Eskelsen Garcia, who recently concluded six years as president of the nation’s largest teachers union, is considered a contender for Education secretary in the administration of President-elect Joe Biden, according to Politico.
The Washington-based website and newspaper that focuses on American politics says Eskelsen Garcia, Utah Education Association president in the 1990s, is “an early favorite for the position.”
“Biden has committed to putting a public school teacher atop the Department of Education, a pledge that has encouraged unions and public education advocates alike, and is seen as a hard rule within the transition team. Given Biden’s close ties to organized labor, there is also a widespread expectation that he wants to put a union official or someone with union ties in his cabinet,” according to Politico.
Eskelsen Garcia, a former elementary school teacher in Utah and former president of the NEA, which claims 3 million members, checks off both boxes.
“Having a secretary of Education who has been a boots-on-the-ground classroom teacher who knows how policies make their way to the classrooms and into the lives of our students and into the working conditions of our teachers, that is just so exciting to me and CONTINUE READING: Is former Utah teachers leader slated for Education post for Biden? - Deseret News