January 06, 2021
The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) welcomes President-elect Biden’s nomination of Dr. Miguel Cardona as the next United States Secretary of Education.
By selecting Cardona, President-elect has signaled that his priorities for the Department are driven by educational imperatives. We are not naïve and short sighted in the belief that this announcement is a panacea for all that ails public education. However, given the past four years during which we witnessed declining support for public schools, emphasis on charter and religious schools, along with significant support for privateers, we are confident that this is a most corrective course of action.
In making the announcement, President-elect Biden stated that, “Dr. Cardona has a proven track record as an innovative leader who will fight for all students, and for a better, fairer, more successful education system. He will also strive to eliminate long-standing inequities and close racial and socioeconomic opportunity gaps -- and expand access to community colleges, training, and public four-year colleges and universities to improve student success and grow a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive middle class."
A career public school educator, Secretary-elect Cardona brings the kind of experience which has been absent from the Department for too long. In accepting the nomination, he stated, “For far too long, we’ve allowed students to graduate from high school without any idea of how to meaningfully engage in the workforce while good-paying high-skilled, technical, and trade jobs go unfilled. For far too long, we’ve spent money on interventions and Band-Aids to address disparities instead of laying a wide, strong foundation of quality, universal early childhood education, and quality social and emotional supports for all of our learners, for far too long, we’ve let college become inaccessible to too many Americans for reasons that have nothing to do with their aptitude or their aspirations and everything to do with cost burdens, and, unfortunately, an internalized culture of low expectations”
NABSE congratulates Dr. Cardona on his nomination. We are prepared to partner with the Department as we endeavor to ensure that all children receive the education that they deserve, and to which they are entitled.
Fadhilika Atiba-Weza
Executive Director
