Joe Biden's Election as President Tees Up Massive Shifts for K-12 Policy - Education Week

Joe Biden's Election as President Tees Up Massive Shifts for K-12 Policy - Education Week

Joe Biden's Election as President Tees Up Massive Shifts for K-12 Policy

Democrat Joe Biden has been elected 46th president of the United States after running on an ambitious agenda for K-12 education that was later overshadowed by his plans to address the coronavirus pandemic and its ongoing effects on students and schools.

The former Democratic vice president, whose victory was called by the Associated Press Saturday morning after a close election and days of vote-counting in multiple states, has promised a sharp U-turn from the education philosophy and policies of his competitor, Republican President Donald Trump, in areas including the COVID-19 crisis, civil rights enforcement in schools, and aid for underprivileged students.

“I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect [Kamala] Harris,” Biden said in a statement. “With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation.”

But as the vote count grew in Biden's favor throughout the week, Trump remained defiant in challenging its legitimacy, tweeting that he had won the election less than an hour before several news outlets declared Biden the winner.

Biden, 77, will take office with plans to significantly boost federal education funding and to focus on “neighborhood public schools” rather than charter schools. And he ran on outspoken opposition to the efforts to use public funds to help children attend private schools that became a signature of his predecessor.

Where U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos frequently criticized teachers’ unions for blocking the “reinvention” she supported, Biden embraced them. He embedded their priorities—like criticism of “high stakes testing” and demands for more resources for CONTINUE READING: Joe Biden's Election as President Tees Up Massive Shifts for K-12 Policy - Education Week

Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet INCLUDING SECRETARY OF EDUCATION - POLITICO

Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet - POLITICO

Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet

The president-elect is expected to nominate a mix of progressives, moderates and even a few Republicans as he seeks to satisfy a broad coalition.

In the next two and half months, Joe Biden needs to build a governing team to help him tackle an historic pandemic and rebuild the economy — all while winning approval from what's likely to be a Republican-controlled Senate and holding together an unruly coalition of Democrats.

It's a task that will be nearly impossible to pull off.

The Biden transition team has been vetting potential candidates for months and will present the president-elect with potential choices in the coming days. Biden is expected to focus first on posts involving public health and the economy, including the secretaries of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, along with West Wing personnel. The former vice president intends to be deliberative and is not likely announce Cabinet nominations in the first week, according to an official close to the Biden team.

The president-elect will face incoming on several fronts, including from Democrats who expect him to nominate the most diverse Cabinet in history. That goal is not always compatible with the push from the party's vocal left wing to nominate the most progressive Cabinet since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Wall Street and Silicon Valley interests that poured money into Biden's campaign over the final stretch have a different set of priorities. So do Senate Republicans, at least a handful of whom Biden will need to confirm his nominees, if, as seems likely, the GOP maintains control of the chamber.

Biden can make history by nominating a person of color or a woman to head the Treasury or Defense departments — the only two remaining departments that have only ever had white men lead them.

Michele Flournoy, a former under secretary of Defense for policy, is already the frontrunner to lead the Pentagon. A number of women and people of color are also in the mix for the top job at Treasury, including Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard and TIAA CEO Roger Ferguson.

Biden, who pledged to unite the country during the campaign, will likely try to keep his coalition together by nominating a mix of progressives, moderates and CONTINUE READING: Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet - POLITICO

EDUCATION

LILY ESKELSEN GARCIA

Elementary school teacher; former president of the National Education Association

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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.

Both of those factors have made Lily Eskelsen Garcia, an elementary school teacher and the immediate past president of the NEA, an early favorite for the position. Garcia is a former Utah “teacher of the year” and got her start in schools as a lunch lady in the cafeteria.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, is also frequently mentioned as a contender although she would likely prompt strong Republican opposition on both policy and political grounds. Weingarten is a former high school history teacher and an attorney who previously served as counsel to the president — and then president — of the United Federation of Teachers. She backed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential bid earlier this year but has more recently been campaigning for Biden across the country.

Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford professor of education and president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute, is also in the mix. Darling-Hammond led Barack Obama’s education policy transition team in 2008 and was widely seen as a possible choice for Education secretary at the time.

— Megan Cassella

RANDI WEINGARTEN

President of the American Federation of Teachers; former president of New York City’s AFT Local 2

LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND

Education professor emeritus at Stanford University; president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute

 Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet - POLITICO

Teachers union launches nationwide get-out-the-vote bus tour | TheHill

Teachers union launches nationwide get-out-the-vote bus tour | TheHill

Teachers union launches nationwide get-out-the-vote bus tour

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the nation's second-largest teachers' union, announced Wednesday the launch of a nationwide get-out-the-vote (GOTV) tour targeting more than a dozen states in support of former Vice President Joe Biden (D).

In a video message announcing the campaign, AFT president Randi Weingarten said the Biden campaign would confront the COVID-19 outbreak rather than "deny it," as she argued the Trump administration has done.

"Joe Biden and [Sen.] Kamala Harris [D-Calif.] are the leaders we need to confront the crises we face and to reimagine a fairer and more just America," she said in the video.

“The AFT will stop at nothing to end this nightmare, fight for people’s dignity and fulfill this country’s founding promise,” she added in an accompanying press release. “And the solution to all of this is activism and voting: by mail or in person, early or on Election Day. Everything we do—this bus tour, the fight for a COVID-19 stimulus, confronting these crises, the Supreme Court fight, our GOTV work—is about preserving our democracy and making people’s lives better.”

Among the 15 states targeted for get-out-the-vote activities including phone and text banking are a number of states set to be battlegrounds in the 2020 presidential race, including Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. AFT officials stressed that "[a]ll events will be conducted under strict COVID-19 protocols," with participants wearing masks and following social distancing guidelines.

The AFT's bus tour headed for Las Vegas on Thursday after joining protesters outside Chevron's California headquarters Wednesday in support of a state ballot measure, California Proposition 15, which would establish property tax rates based on the current market value of the property rather than its original purchase value. Chevron opposes the measure.

The Biden campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Polls show the former vice president with a wide lead over his opponent, President Trump, following their first in-person debate on Tuesday.

Teachers union launches nationwide get-out-the-vote bus tour | TheHill

Open Letter to Joe Biden: Ed Sec “That Has Been in Public Schools” is Not Enough

 Open Letter to Joe Biden: Ed Sec “That Has Been in Public Schools” is Not Enough

Open Letter to Joe Biden: Ed Sec “That Has Been in Public Schools” is Not Enough

Dear Candidate Biden:

On September 01, 2020, I saw part of the interview your wife, Jill, did with CNN contributor, Biana Goldryga, on the topic of K12 education. In that interview, Jill said that you plan to replace Betsy DeVos as US secretary of education “with somebody that has been in the public schools.”

On the surface, that sounds fantastic. On the surface.

The problem is that the education reform movement specializes in its members having temp time “in the public schools” as a resume-padding device designed to catapult them into leadership positions in K12 education, such as district and state superintendents. So, technically, one of these classroom-exiting, sleight-of-experience resume padders could slide right on in as the next secretary of education, without spending but a moment’s time as a classroom teacher, and you, sir, might not know the difference because the person is *technically* able to declare having been “in the public schools.”

In fact, hearing Jill Biden say that you plan to appoint as next ed sec “someone who has been in the public schools” makes me realize that being “in” the public schools doesn’t really commit to having as ed sec someone who has spent time in the classroom at all, much less years enough in the classroom to see a wave of ed trends come and go. I’ll pursue the classroom longevity issue in more detail shortly; for now, I will assume that Jill Biden’s use of “in the public schools” means having been a classroom teacher “in the public schools.”

Let’s return to the education reform movement’s penchant for churning out token teachers who really desire speedy procurement of positions of power and influence over the K12 classroom, not an actual classroom teaching career.

The principal vehicle for this career catapult is ed-reform teacher-temp agency, CONTINUE READING:  Open Letter to Joe Biden: Ed Sec “That Has Been in Public Schools” is Not Enough

Biden, Trump offer two distinct paths; for public education, there’s one clear choice - Education Votes

Biden, Trump offer two distinct paths; for public education, there’s one clear choice - Education Votes

Biden, Trump offer two distinct paths; for public education, there’s one clear choice

From the first day of the Republican National Convention, there were stark differences from the previous week’s speeches and messages directed at educators, parents, and students at the Democratic National Convention. Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris have focused on listening to educators and supporting public schools. President Trump hounded on privatization as the way forward while he, Republicans in Congress, and those speaking at the RNC failed to take the global pandemic seriously. Educators know that without safely reopening schools by providing necessary funding and equipment for educators and students, the economy will not recover. During the coronavirus pandemic, the lives of students and educators are at risk with no support — now is not the time to play politics with our students’ futures.

President Trump during his acceptance speech said that if reelected, he would expand charter schools and voucher programs that take money from public schools, even though Congress has continuously rejected the administration’s voucher schemes. Vouchers and tax credits were a main talking point throughout the RNC, but with the backdrop of national protests against racist institutions, Trump ignored the fact that these policies leave out students of color and families who cannot afford a private education. Just prior to the start of the RNC, the Trump Administration released it’s second term agenda which only listed two priorities for the education sector: voucher schemes and “teach American exceptionalism”. 

Last week, Biden and the DNC focused on supporting public education. He emphasized his ability and experience in leading during a pandemic, and his dream of building together a more  equitable version of America.

“It’s time for us, for we, the people, to come together. And make no mistake. United we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America,” said Biden. The platform throughout the CONTINUE READING: Biden, Trump offer two distinct paths; for public education, there’s one clear choice - Education Votes

Trump vs. Biden on reopening schools - The Washington Post

Trump vs. Biden on reopening schools - The Washington Post

Trump vs. Biden on reopening schools

There are, not unexpectedly, big differences between the approaches that President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden are taking about whether and how to reopen schools during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has been repeatedly saying that all schools should open fully — even in areas where coronavirus infection rates are spiking — and that he wants to withhold federal funding from districts that don’t. Although he can’t unilaterally withhold money Congress has already spent, he is working with Senate Republicans to attach conditions or incentives to billions of dollars in new emergency aid for schools.

Trump administration, congressional Republicans eye tying school aid to reopening in next funding bill

In contrast, Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, released a new plan of his own on Friday (see video below) for reopening schools that stressed the importance of keeping people safe — a point that is not part of Trump’s threatening call to reopen.

Biden, joined by his educator wife, Jill Biden, said in a video recorded in his basement that school districts should make decisions about reopening based on local conditions.

“Forcing educators and students back into classrooms in areas where infection rates are going up or remaining too high is just plain dangerous,” he said.

Biden called on Congress to provide billions of dollars in emergency funding for school districts, which say they cannot openly safely without federal assistance to make the changes necessary and purchase enough protective equipment.

“If we do this wrong, we will put lives at risk and set our economy and our country back,” Biden said in the video.

Jill Biden added, CONTINUE READING: Trump vs. Biden on reopening schools - The Washington Post

Robert Kuttner: Say It Ain’t So, Joe | Diane Ravitch's blog

Robert Kuttner: Say It Ain’t So, Joe | Diane Ravitch's blog

Robert Kuttner: Say It Ain’t So, Joe

Robert Kuttner is editor of The American Prospect. Here he writes that Biden has asked Rahm Emanuel to advise him. What Kuttner fails to mention is Rahm’s disastrous control of the Chicago public schools. He should be forever stigmatized by his decision to close 50 public schools in a single day. He was continually at war with the Chicago Teachers Union. To know him, if you value public schools, is to loathe him.

Kuttner writes:

MAY 29, 2020   Kuttner on TAP

Say It Ain’t So, Joe: Rahm Emanuel?? Just when you thought that Team Biden couldn’t get any worse than Larry Summers, we now learn courtesy of the Chicago Tribune that Clinton and Obama alum Rahm Emanuel is a Biden adviser.

A quick refresher (or maybe emetic) on Emanuel. He began as a staffer in the Clinton White House where he helped push through NAFTA, then went to Wall Street to make his fortune (he made $16 million in less than three years). From there, he got elected to Congress where he epitomized everything bad about the revolving door.

As head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he arranged to load up the House Financial Services Committee with Wall Street Democrats who sought the prized seat to raise lots of Wall Street money and protect Wall Street’s financial interests. This made the job of Chairman Barney Frank much harder when CONTINUE READING: Robert Kuttner: Say It Ain’t So, Joe | Diane Ravitch's blog