With just under a month until President-Elect Joe Biden is sworn in as the next president, his team has announced its Secretary of Education nominee. Dr. Miguel Cardona, the current Connecticut Education Commissioner, and former public school teacher is expected to take be named the new Secretary of Education.
Biden stated the following on Cardona if he is confirmed for the position:
“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.”
Under Cardona’s leadership, Connecticut was the first state to secure every student in a public school with a laptop and a high-speed internet connection to engage in remote learning during the ongoing pandemic.
“I am grateful for the chance to take on this responsibility,” Cardona said in a statement. “And I’m grateful to my own children — Miguel Jr., or, as we call him, Angelito, and my daughter Celine, and to my wife and best friend, Marissa — herself a middle school Family School Liaison. And I am grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me, Mr. President-elect and Madam Vice President-elect. I look forward to getting to work on behalf of all America’s children — and the families, communities, and nation they will grow up to inherit and lead. Thank you.”