The Senate on Monday voted to confirm Miguel Cardona as secretary of education, clearing his way to lead President Joe Biden’s effort to reopen the country’s schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Cardona, 45, a former public school teacher who became Connecticut’s principal, was approved 64-33.
He takes the lead from the Department of Education amid growing tensions between Americans who believe students can now return safely to the classroom, and others who say the risks are still too great.
Although his position is limited to reopening schools, Cardona will be asked to play a key role in achieving Biden’s goal of keeping a majority of basic schools open five days a week within its first 100 days. He will be tasked with guiding schools through the reopening process and sharing best practices on how to teach during a pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention released a roadmap last month to get students safely back into the classrooms. According to the agency, masks, social distance and other strategies should be used, but vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for reopening.
Cardona, which has received attention for its efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, has promised to make it its top priority to reopen schools. During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, he said there are ‘good examples in schools across the country that can reopen safely’.
The debate has become a political firestorm for Biden, who is caught between competing interests as he seeks to get students into the classroom without provoking the powerful unions for teachers who have placed him in the White House. He says his goal of returning students to the classroom is possible if Congress approves its emergency relief plan, which includes $ 130 billion for schools in the country.
Republicans reprimanded Biden for not reopening the schools more quickly, while teachers’ unions opposed the government’s decision to continue with the federal requirement for standardized tests during the pandemic.
However, the difficult terrain is nothing new for Cardona, who faced similar tensions in the Connecticut pandemic, and who even received early praise from Biden’s critics.
Republicans in Congress applauded Cardona’s efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, and some see him as a potential ally in their support of charter schools. Teachers meanwhile see him as a partner who brings years of experience in teaching and knows the demands of teaching.
The nomination continues with a meteoric rise for Cardona, who was appointed in 2019 to head Connecticut’s education department after working in public schools in Meriden, Connecticut, for 20 years – the same district he attended as a child.
He started his career as a fourth grade teacher before becoming the youngest principal at the age of 28. In 2012, he was named Connecticut Chief of the Year, and in 2015, he became an assistant superintendent of the district. When he was appointed state education commissioner, he became the first Latino to hold the post.
Cardona grew up in a public housing project in Meriden, raised by parents who came to Connecticut from Puerto Rico as children. Throughout his career, he has focused on reducing gaps in education and supporting bilingual education. This is a personal problem for Cardona, who says he only spoke Spanish when he went to kindergarten and struggled to learn English.
Cardona was the first in his family to graduate from college, and his three degrees included a doctorate in education from the University of Connecticut. He and his wife, Marissa, have two children in high school.
His deep roots in public education fit the criteria that Biden sought in an education secretary. During his campaign, Biden promised to elect a secretary with experience in public education. It was meant to draw a contrast with then-secretary Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who spent decades on school-choice policies.
In an increasingly fractional world of education, Cardona has promised to be a unifier. During his confirmation hearing, he promised to enter with “the large, diverse community of people interested in education”. He added that “we gain strength by working together.”
As he works to help reopen schools, he will also have the task of helping them address the damage the pandemic is affecting student learning. He agrees with Biden’s call for funding for further education and says schools will need to expand academic summer programs and hire more counselors to help students with mental health issues.
He will probably also face an early test, as he weighs how much flexibility to allow states when they take standardized tests. Last week, the Department of Education ordered countries to continue annual testing, but said assessments could be offered online or delayed until the fall. The agency also highlighted the possibility that states may gain “additional assessment flexibility” in certain cases.
Some states are already pushing for the extra flexibility, including Michigan, which is asking to replace state tests with local “benchmark” evaluations administered this year. It will be up to Cardona to determine how much indulgence should be provided for it.
Republicans also took the stage for a fight over transgender athletes. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Objected during the trial last month to policies that allow transgender girls to participate in girls’ athletics. This is the subject of a legal battle in Connecticut, where some cisgender athletes are challenging a state policy that could allow transgender students to participate as their identified gender.
Under pressure from Paul to take a stand on this, Cardona said he would support the right of ‘all students, including students who are transgender’.