During the presidential campaign, President-elect Biden time and time again pledged to nominate a teacher or educator as the next Secretary of Education (the issue is particularly important for the Bidens—first lady Dr. Jill Biden, who has a doctoral degree in Education, is a long time educator, and continued teaching even during her time as second lady). With the nomination of Dr. Miguel Cardona, the Biden team has done just that.
Miguel Cardona, born of Puerto Rican parents and self-described as “American as apple pie and rice and beans,” became the third Latino candidate nominated for a Cabinet position by president-elect Biden. As a kid, Cardona grew up in public housing and only spoke Spanish upon entering kindergarten. His personal experiences inform his education policy, like focusing on school equity and improving English-language education. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University, and his masters in bilingual/bicultural education and his doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut.
Cardona began his career in education as a fourth-grade teacher in Connecticut’s Meriden public school system, the same school district he attended as a child. At age 27, he became the state’s youngest school principal, a role he remained in for the following 10 years. He went on to rise to the position of assistant superintendent, and currently serves as Connecticut’s Commissioner of Education, the first Latino to hold the position. In this capacity, he helped make Connecticut the first state in the nation to ensure that every one of its public school students has a laptop and a high-speed internet connection to engage in remote learning. Additionally, he has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Educational Leadership, served as the Co-Chairperson on the Connecticut Legislative Achievement Gap Task Force and the Connecticut Birth to Grade Three Leaders Council.
In a speech, Biden called Cardona a “real easy” choice for Education Secretary. He also reiterated his focus of re-opening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic that has kept millions of children, some without adequate resources or access to Internet connectivity, struggling to learn from home. Cardona acknowledged the challenges at hand— “I’ve lived those challenges,” he said, as a public school parent and leader of public schools in Connecticut. “It shouldn’t take a pandemic for us to realize how important teachers are,” he added.