In less than two months we’ll have the chance to put the country back on the right track. There’s never been a clearer choice. Voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be a vote for good government, public schools and working families.
Biden has promised greater investment in public education, including doubling the number of counselors, nurses, social workers, psychologists and other health professionals in our schools. He wants to expand the number of community schools, which support students and their families with a variety of health and other services. His proposed federal infrastructure legislation earmarks funding for improving public school buildings.
Biden has been a union ally and an advocate for public education throughout his political career. He knows that unions build the middle class. At our Teacher Union Day event in October 2019, Biden vowed to “provide the support you need and the respect you deserve.”
Sen. Harris has been a sharp critic of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and as California’s Attorney General she created the Bureau of Children’s Justice, where she led a probe of a for-profit charter school company that was ripping off students.
Dr. Jill Biden, an educator and longtime member of the National Education Association, would likely carve out a role as first lady that focuses on substantive issues that matter greatly to public school educators, including expanding opportunities for students to attend college or pursue career and technical education.
The right to vote has been under assault from the Trump administration and the president’s allies in statehouses across the country. Renewal of the Voting Rights Act, once a bipartisan effort, gathers dust in the U.S. Senate. Polling places have been closed in some states and mail service was temporarily slowed across the country.
This August, we marked the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. There’s no better tribute to the women who fought so hard for the vote than to exercise that right in November on behalf of the candidates who share our values.